Avoidance of Dysfunctional Human Relationships

            In the play Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Eugene O’Neill stages the gradual deterioration of familial ties and relationships through the means of drugs and alcohol. Similarly, in the play Blasted, Sarah Kane enacts the deterioration of a relationship through violence and alcohol. Both plays utilize a plot and setting that represent the entrapment and destructive nature of human interaction. Through the characters’ ignorance and avoidance of reality, both plays also demonstrate the characters’ attempts to beautify reality. In other words, O’Neill and Kane illustrate an individual’s strong desire to mask subconscious negative emotions with the delusions of perfection and fantasy.

            As the title suggests, Long Day’s Journey Into Night stages a dysfunctional family infected with drug abuse and alcoholism.  Due to James Tyrone’s stingy living style, the family suffers years and years of poor quality medical care.  As a result, Edmund, the youngest son diagnosed with consumption, is unable to receive the proper care to recover. Jamie, the eldest, unable to accept his father’s cheap behavior and jealous of Edmund, wastes his life away in bars and with women. Furthermore, Jamie, James and Edmund use alcohol as a medium to avoid having to confront or acknowledge Mary’s addiction or the dysfunctional family dynamic. In addition, Mary, the mother, becomes addicted to morphine due to the painkillers initially prescribed for post childbirth pain. She keeps reverting back to her drug abuse even after rehab as a way to avoid dealing with her much regretted life. At one point, in a soliloquy Mary has wished that she could overdose on morphine accidentally to be freed of this situation. To illustrate the intent of drug abuse and alcoholism, O’Neill uses the fog to symbolize the desire of the family to overlook the disastrous situation in the household.  In act three, Mary is found looking out of the window telling her maid, Cathleen, that “[She] really love[s] fog. It hides you from the world and the world from you. You feel that everything has changed, and nothing is what it seemed to be.”(O’Neill 98) In this line, O’Neill demonstrates the longing to rid of the cruel reality in an individual. Mary strongly desires to run away from the current situation she is facing. She wishes to delude herself from everything and “hide from the world.” In this case, the fog represents the veil that Mary chooses to cover in front of her to view reality. This symbolism is further extended through Edmund in act four when he comes back from a walk near the summerhouse to talk to his father. He told James Tyrone that he wanted to be alone by “[him]self in another world where truth is untrue and life can hide from itself.” (O’Neill 131) Edmund also said that the fog blended with the sea and compared himself as “the ghost belonging to the fog.” Once again, through Edmund’s poetic description, O’Neill presents the strong desire to walk away from reality and to rid of worries. The fog blurs the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Edmund’s desire to be submerged in an environment in which “truth is untrue” unveils his motives to avoid confronting the current situation. His metaphor of becoming a ghost further strengthens this desire to want to disappear from the world he is suffering in.

            In Blasted, Kane utilizes oblivion, setting and alcohol to illustrate the unwillingness to face reality. Cate’s innocence allows her to be oblivious to her surroundings and believe the best in everyone. Her naiveté permits her to ignore all the pain in the world. In fact, she refuses to see the blurred boundaries of right and wrong. Cate even mentions the “[she doesn’t] believe in killing.” (Kane 32) In this case, Cate refuses to recognize the reality of inequality that happens in this world. On the other hand, Kane limits the setting of the play in a small hotel room away from the on going war to demonstrate Ian’s fear for his own safety. Furthermore, the audience constantly sees Ian warn Cate that “It’s too dangerous” to go home and pleads for Cate to stay by his side because he is scared. (Kane 28) Similarly to the Long Day's Journey Into Night, alcohol is a clear symbolism of the escape from reality. Ian also drinks gin and smokes incessantly through out the play to calm his temper and anxiety. He seems to want to die earlier by intensifying his alcohol and cigarette use just as how Mary wishes that she would one day overdose on morphine. In addition to Ian’s drinking, Cate is found drinking towards the very end of the play. Cate sacrifices her body in search for food. In the end, Cate washes down the food with gin and feeds Ian. In this ending, Cate still maintains her naiveté because she is still willing to take care of Ian. However, to get over the shock of the on going war and what she went through to survive, Cate finally drinks alcohol in the last scene. This suggests that human beings employ many other ways to avert their negative feelings elsewhere and escape from reality.

            Both Eugene O’Neill and Sarah Kane demonstrated the strong desire to escape reality. Although, the plays used different plots, they both represented an individual’s avoidance and ignorance of depressing situations. Instead of confrontation, human beings tend to flee from the horrible situation at hand and create delusions of a more perfected world.

References 

O'Neill, Eugene. Long Da'ys Journey Into Night. corrected. Binghamton: Vail-Ballou Press,Inc, 1955. Print.

Kane, Sarah. Blasted. London: Methuen Drama, 1995.

Bacchae with Johnny Depp and Tom Hollander

If I were to cast “The Bacahae: A Communion Rite” I would cast Johnny Depp as Dionysos and Tom Hollander as Pentheus. Initially, I was inspired by the movie “Pirate of the Caribbean: At World’s End” where Johnny Depp is casted as the mischievous and mysterious Captain Jack Sparrow and Tom Hollander is casted as the antagonistic Lord Beckett.

In this movie, Captain Jack Sparrow was the center of attention.  He is depicted as unpredictable, adventurous and strange. Often times, Jack Sparrow is seen drinking alcohol and enjoying the time of his life while making everyone else’s life more chaotic. However, despite his chaotic methods, the captain always seems to have a plan to triumph in the end. Thus, everyone always obey and follow his orders. On the other hand, at many moments in the movie, the captain is calm, collected and devious. Throughout the movie, the captain causes the audience to wonder whether his acts and stunts are intentional and strategically planned or successful by luck.

Johnny Depp would be the perfect candidate for Dionysos due to his convincing performance in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The Character, Jack Sparrow, in itself represents parts of Dionysos’ abilities. In “The Bacchae,” Dionysos is a god who wishes to liberate the citizens of Thebes through alcohol and release of wild emotions.  He despises Pentheus’ ideals and is eager to liberate Thebes from Pentheus’ rule and often uses strange ways to punish and trick Pentheus into worshipping him. In addition, Dionysos also calls himself Bromius. When Bromius is in the context, he is portrayed as a calm, collected and dignified character. This is illustrated clearly when Pentheus could not shake the will in Bromius when he was imprisoned by Pentheus. Jack Sparrow is similar in that he uses playful approaches to solve the dilemmas at hand and never reveals his true plans. The captain is also always seen with his arms around women and rum indicating his lack of concern for manners and proper image. Furthermore, Johnny Depp has also demonstrated the diversity in his acting through many of his other works. His flexibility and skill is what ultimately convinces me to cast him as Dionysos in “The Bacchae.”

Lord Beckett in the movie “Pirates of Caribbean” was the main antagonist. He directs the British military and planned to take over the seas and eliminates the last of the pirates. Lord Beckett is power hungry and is very rigid towards rules and regulations.  To defeat the pirates, Becket had to black mail and team up with Davy Jones to gain enough power. In other words, Lord Beckett had to strategize against the pirates in the their own territory.  Although he seems to succeed at first, Lord Beckett is overpowered under the attack of the pirates in their final battle leaving him awestruck and dumbfounded standing in the middle of a sinking ship.

Tom Hollander was very successful in portraying Lord Beckett in the movie. His movements and speech was formal and cordial but at the same time very authoritative. Similar to Pentheus, Lord Beckett indulged in the materialistic ideas of entrapment, power and control. In “The Bacchae,” Pentheus is depicted as a cold and cruel dictator. Pentheus is fixated on the idea of a proper life and order just as Lord Beckett insisted upon the elimination of piracy. Ultimately, both Pentheus and Lord Beckett failed to defeat their opponents. Furthermore, both lost to their opponents when they attempted to assimilate to their opponents’ culture and environment. Other than his depiction of Lord Beckett, Tom Hollander also performed a perfect image of Mr. Collins in the movie “Pride and Prejudice.” Mr. Collins was also an uptight and orderly character that seems boring and strict. Through my assessments of these two movies, I am confident that Tom Hollander would carry out Pentheus’ character brilliantly. 

Tom Hollander: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0390903/

The Metamorphosis and Endgame

In both works, The Metamorphosis and Endgame, Kafka and Ballard surface an issue in which society suppresses personal identity in different respects of society. The metamorphosis emphasizes the superficiality one’s economic value dominating their worth. In the Endgame, Ballard emphasizes the elimination of individualism as one discovers and accepts that their identity is incongruent to society. 

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor is trapped in an insect’s body and unable to work. Eventually, Gregor conforms to live in a bug like environment. “He especially enjoyed hanging suspended from the ceiling…one could breathe more freely; one’s body swung and rocked lightly…”(Kafka 115) As Gregor slowly starts to enjoy his own living situation, His family distance themselves from him. Ultimately, his inability and complacency in this strange situation causes him to lose societal value and causes his death. “It was like a confirmation of their new dreams and excellent intentions that at the end of their journey their daughter sprang to her feet first and stretched her young body.”(Kafka 139) In the end, his family leaves him behind to die to lighten their burden as they move on leech off of his sister, Grete, as they marry her into a wealthy household. This indicates the intolerance for diversity in society. Kafka stresses that once a person loses his or her economic value, he or she is rendered useless in society. Furthermore, if the aspirations of an individual are not of value in society, his or her identity would be suppressed. Kafka uses Gregor to demonstrate this point. When Gregor is in his human form, he carries the burden supporting the family; however, when Gregor turns into the bug and is no longer able to provide for the family, he is locked inside a storage room along with the unwanted furniture. In other words, Gregor’s death indicates the intolerant society and the superficial emphasis on the economic value of a person. In addition, Kafka uses Grete to demonstrate the superficiality in this society as well. When Grete’s parents discovered that Grete has grown to be a beautiful young woman fit to marry, they immediately acknowledged the economic prospects of their lives disregarding her preferences to be a musician. This illustrates the shallow perspective of economics value overpowering dreams and aspirations that do not revolve around money.

Similarly, in Endgame, Ballard suggests that an individual is exiled from society as soon as he or she is accused of offending society. In the short story, Constantin, the Condemned, is accused of an unknown crime that hasn’t gone through proper trial and imprisoned in an empty villa. Constantin’s unknown sentence of imprisonment symbolizes the discrimination society has against individuality. Ballard makes this parallel by stating that  “[Constantin’s] case [was] permanently one file but never irrevocably closed. Above all, the fact of his guilt was never established and confirmed.” (Ballard 507)  In other words, Ballard compares Constantin’s crime to being discriminated and excluded from current society. He illustrates the vague but equally strong verdict that discrimination puts on people.  Once you are excluded from society you are ignored and misunderstood.  Furthermore, in Endgame Ballard suggests that “if [a definite date of execution] were known in advance there might be a last-minute rally of sympathy, an attempt to review the sentence and perhaps apportion the blame else where.”(Ballard 506) Which relates to the obscurity and ambiguity that lies within the discriminatory judgments of society and how fast someone can be exiled from society without truly being understood. In addition, Constantin’s death symbolizes the consequences for individuality. As Constantin fights for his innocence, the executioner tells him that “When [he know he is] innocent, then [he is] guilty.”(Ballard 520) This demonstrates that by accepting and boasting one’s own unique identity, one is susceptible to society’s elimination.

In both The Metamorphosis and Endgame, the symbolism revolves around the isolation and suppression of one’s identity and value. Both Kafka and Ballard use death as a prime consequence for not conforming to society.  They also use the physical segregation to represent the isolation from society.  In the Metamorphosis, Gregor is trapped in his room, not allowed to come out, whereas in Endgame, Constantin is not allowed to leave the villa. In addition, both of the main characters were rejected and excluded from society for unclear and unjustified reasons. No explicit reason was given as to why Gregor becomes an insect nor was there a clear crime pinned on Constantin. In short, Kafka and Ballard both created a situation in which individuals are suppressed and suffocated by the homogenous society.

However, Kafka explored this idea with a different perspective. Kafka specifically inferred to the economic value one has in society. Gregor’s isolation did not begin until he began to lose his financial abilities in the household. In Kafka’s work, one’s identity is overpowered by the capitalistic society.  In contrast, Constantin in Endgame was isolated due to an unknown crime that was not strictly established. Through that Ballard addresses the inexplicable prejudices that circulates in a homogenous society isolating the unique aspects of individuals. Thus Ballard suggests that suppression of one’s identity stems from the discrimination and prejudices of others in society. Although both works discuss isolation, Kafka and Ballard definitely approached this thematic issue from different perspectives and aspects. 

11:11, What would you wish for?

11:11 I’d never been so driven.
11:11 Would you please just listen.

To the wishes and thrills,
Through the winter night chills,
Towards the hopes and the dreams,
Where happiness beams. 

To the list I have made,
Of the things I would trade,
For the life I would treasure,
And the things I do desire.

Yet eleven you are,
A minute you are,
A minute you were.
As seconds tick, moments pass,
And 11:11 you were. 

On the surface, this poem describes the clock on my iPod Touch. The inspiration was sparked by 11:11 in the night. As a common practice, many people wait for this minute to arrive to make a wish. This poem is a personal response to the general notion of that auspicious minute in the day. Essentially, the poem is a melancholy and cynical view upon the hope fabricated behind this minute. 

The main formal feature of this poem is apostrophe. As the time strikes 11:11 PM, I begin to address the time as a person who could supposedly listen to my wishes and hopes. In the second and third stanza, the poem illustrates the desire to gain certain objects and emotions. In the last stanza, the poem expresses the hopelessness as I realize how powerless time can be. In fact, time moves on much like everything else without granting any wish. In addition, time is referred to as a person to draw a parallel to the idea of loneliness. “Yet eleven you are, / A minute you are, / A minute you were.” In these lines, the poem mourns for the reminiscent memories.  As memories have become a past tense, one can only recall the wonderful experiences but cannot relive them again. In other words, time moves on and waits for no one, and one can only watch it pass by no matter what is done. 

OED #1 Word: Rove

In “Sonnet III: To a Nightingale,” Charlotte Smith expresses praise to and envy of the nightingale for its liberty to express its emotions at will.  Smith utilizes apostrophe to make as if she is talking to the nightingale to express her longings to release her emotions freely. As symbolism, Smith idolizes the nightingale as a poet’s inspiration from nature who sings “tales[s] of tender woe” in the night. In the first two stanzas, Smith asks the nightingale of the melancholy song the bird sings every night to the moon. She specifically inquires where this “mournful melody of song” is coming from. In this way, Smith implies in her communication with the nightingale that there exists sadness within the songs that the nightingale sings and also her sympathy with the nightingale’s sadness. Furthermore, Smith illustrates an image of the nightingale leaving its nest to sing “at dewy eve…to the listening night to sing [its] fate.” Later in the last stanza of the sonnet, Smith transitions her sympathetic disposition towards a more envious attitude with the nightingale’s ability to release its emotion in song. “Now releas’d in woodlands wild to rove [,]” the nightingale is free and could “sigh and sing at liberty.”

          The word “rove” in the context of Smith’s Sonnet plays a significant role in expressing the emotional liberty that the nightingale possessed that Smith wishes she could have. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the definitions of Rove is “to travel from place to place without fixed route or destination, especially over a wide area; to wander in an aimless or unsystematic way; or to roam.”  In the sonnet, the word “rove” appears in the tenth line as "Pale Sorrow's victim wert though once among,/Tho' now releas'd in woordlands wild to rove." In this line, the nightingale is released to the wild free to roam about anywhere in nature. As mentioned in the definition, the word also carries the meaning of wandering in “an aimless or unsystematic way,” which enforces the idea in romanticism of breaking free from reasoning and societal binds. In this sonnet, Smith embraces the nightingale’s fortune to be free of social regulation and rational reasoning even when the nightingale’s song indicated melancholy. Although she is sympathetic of the sadness that traveled through the melodies of the nightingale, Smith expressed that she would rather “sigh and sing at liberty --- like [the nightingale].”

The Purpose of this Blog

The purpose of this blog was to provide students a platform to develop and ultimately share ideas of their own about the topics and readings throughout this course. Branching off of that basic function, I set out to create such a blog that would set a tone and atmosphere strongly relating to the theme of this course to the best of my interpretation to encourage and provoke thoughts and opinions about the pieces of literature that we may touch upon. From the beginning of the course, Lyrical Ballads by Cooleridge and Wordsworth, set a Romanticism ideology which attempts to challenge the benefits and convention of reason. By this overarching theme, Lyrical Ballads presented an unconventional beauty that is void of reason, symmetry and social regulation. Thus, rather than using a smooth and solid color background, I chose the template with a background of an old room with torn up wallpaper. In turn, the background embraces the idea of seeing the beauty even in the imperfection of a room that has been through much damage. The background is also masked with a transparent tint of dark gray as it sets a tone of a more gloomy setting as the poetry that the course has reviewed through so far were all commentaries on the negative aspects of society.

In addition to matching the overall theme of this course, I also desired to present the significance of literature in my life. As the title suggests, individuals can be powerful with words. Of the many experiences with literature and history, I realize the power and influence words can affect our daily lives. In hopes of getting to understand the various facets of such a broad and abstract subject, I wish to put forth a reminder of how powerful words can be on the very platform that is used to spark ideas and discussion about literature’s purpose and significance.

Welcome!

Hey, I'm Michelle and welcome to my blog!