Oh the Dislike of Iago…

Finally, the days of Athens Tech are withering away…more importantly I can stop struggling through reading things like Othello. As I continue to read Othello, I dislike Iago more and more. I think if I happen to know Iago personally he would not be a part of my circle.  He is arrogant, disrespectful, and manipulative.  It is clear that Iago disrespects his own wife, Emilia, as well as, other women. In Act II scene I, Iago makes it very clear his stances on the role of a woman. The job of a woman is to clean, cook and basically be enslaved to her husband. He also believed that women are tricky; they tempt men sexually in order to get what they want. He made his opinion obvious about women, which is really what made me not like him. Iago was arrogant about his own abilities because he thought he deserved Cassio’s title. He thought greatly of himself, when really he was not all that. His plan was to destroy and manipulate everyone in order to get what he wanted. It was evident throughout Acts I and II that Iago was manipulative. Specifically, at the end of Act I, his plan was revealed to get Othello to believe that Cassio and Desdemona had something going on so he could snatch up Cassio’s title. In the process he is going to hurt Rodorigo. He wants Rodorgio’s assistance but can only receive it by lying to him. His manipulative abilities made his role in the play very important. Those abilities produced a centralized theme of the entire play. I cannot wait to see how the ending is. Something tells me that everyone is going to die, but maybe the Duke. His niceness had me a little suspicious.

“Song for a Dark Girl”

Langston Hughes wrote for the equality of blacks during the Harlem Renaissance. In his poems there were several reoccurring themes : hopefulness, black culture, story-telling, etc. In “Song for a Dark Girl”, the theme was black culture. This short poem gave the reader an insight to what it was like for a particular young black girl during this time. The poem showed that this young black girl had feelings and emotions just like those of any young white girl. The speaker repeated “Way Down South in Dixie” at the beginning of each stanza. I believe the speaker did this to make sure that the reader knew the story of this poem occurred in the south. It was kind of like an allusion because people knew of the inequality between blacks and whites during this time in the south. Also, the speaker repeated “break the heart of me” at the beginning and the end of the poem to make sure the reader knew she was devastated over what had happened. The repetition also made this poem song-like. It was like a depressing love story. It was also a narrative type of poem because it told a story. The main subject of the poem was that this young black girl lost her lover. Her lover was hung, because he was black. She was brokenhearted. “Bruised body high in air” painted a picture for the reader, allowing us to picture the hanging in our mind. The line I found most interesting in the poem was “I asked the white Lord Jesus/ What was the use of prayer.” The speaker realized there was no point in praying to a “white Lord Jesus” because of the inequality between whites and blacks. She had lost hope in praying to a “white Lord Jesus” about the situation. This poem literally broke my own heart..

“I heard a Fly buzz- when I died”- Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson had a unique way of writing poems. Her poems were less formal then those of Shakespeare or Donne. Her poems consisted of erratic punctuation. She did not really use any organization or much rhyming. The main themes of her poems were death/mortality, madness, or isolation. “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” main theme was clearly death/mortality.

Personally, I enjoy how Dickinson is less formal in her poems. It almost made it easier for me to understand the poem. I think the main plot of “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” is that the poet is on her deathbed, she is about to sign the her remaining documents (the will), and suddenly a fly buzzes and she can no longer see (she is dead). I believe that the “-” in the poem are used to keep the audience wondering and in suspense about when the poet is actually going to die. The poet also put one at the end of the story because the poet is dead so the audience can no longer be informed of what is going on. Also, the poet used capitalization to stress certain words that are important in the poem. Almost every little thing was important at this time to the poet because the poet’s death was approaching quickly. Her lack of organization is definitely present in this poem. The poet is all over the place in her ideas, probably because she is nervous about dying. The poet uses a fly to symbolize death in poem. The author made something so small and pointless become the main focus of the poem. It is weird how the fly was used to cut the poet off from the rest of the world, killing her. A tiny fly blocks the light from the poet. She is now dead. Something so pointless…related to something so life-changing. 

Poetry Confessions

After practicing how to read poetry in class it was a little easier to understand the poems. The hardest poem to understand was “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun.” I had to read the poem several times and still did not really understand the poem. Most poems I choose to read several times in order to understand. 

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds/admit impediments”- he is not going to be the one talking negative about love.  (1-2)

“love is not love/ which alters when it alteration finds”- no such thing of love when someone is having to change. Love just happens. It doesn’t happen when people start changing. (2-3)

“O, no, it is an ever- fixed mark” love is fixed but if you want to change you can but there is no being forced to if there truly is love in the relationship. (5)

If this be error and upon me proved/ I never writ, nor no man ever loved”- if someone decides to prove him wrong there is no such thing as love.  (13-14)

So my interpretation of the theme is love just falls into place. People do not have to try or change to fall in love, it just happens. Probably is not right, but I tried. 

Poetry Questions/Response:

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds”- I pretty sure understand the poem except “It is star to every wand’ring bark” 

Please help me understand “Fear no more the heat o’ the sun”- is this poem talking about death or what? 

“That time of year thou mayst in me behold”- “Upon those boughs which shake against the cold”- What does this mean? Is this poem about death as well?

Overall, I enjoyed reading Shakespeare more than Donne. He was a little easier to understand. Still this has not converted me into liking poetry. 

John Donne “The Flea”

“The Flea” by John Donne, might by far be one of the weirdest poems I have ever read. John Donne takes a nasty bug, a flea, and turns it into something extraordinary. The flee in the poem is what supposedly brings the couple together. “It sucked me first, and now sucks thee, And in this flea our two bloods mingled,” Something that is so gross, the author was able to make so beautiful. The flea was able to do what the speaker thought was unthinkable, “And this, alas, is more than we would do.” The speaker’s lover wanted to kill the flea. “Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare…” The speaker did not agree with that. If his loved killed the flea, it would kill their relationship. The flee has done so much for them. “The flea is you and I, and this Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;” Inside the flea, housed the couples entire relationship. The flea brought them together regardless of her “parents grudge.” Even though the speaker urged his lover not to kill the flea, she did anyway. He believed her action was “cruel and sudden.” The speaker asked his lover what had the flea done other than bring them together. His lover argues that she is not any less for killing the flea. He admitted at the end that she lost no more honor for killing the flea then she would if she yielded with him. 

The poem’s tone seems very sentimental in a weird way. Although the poem is about love, it is not mushy-gushy. The author is able to do that by using a flea instead of something more romantic. The speaker’s lover killed the flea to show him that their love does not unite within a flea. The speaker’s lover is more realistic, while he is quite the romantic. I mean if there is such as using a flea to be romantic. At the end, when the author brings up sex, was that his intent all along? Was he trying to prove his love or get her in bed?  

Ernest Hemingway “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”

Although this short story by Hemingway seems very simplistic, it actually holds greater meaning below the surface. Hemingway uses the old man and the old waiter in the story to reveal that those that are lonely and suffer from despair need a place to relieve those feelings. Those people need “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” It was easy for the young waiter to want to rush home to his wife because he has not yet suffered from loneliness or despair. The old waiter could relate to the old man because he has been and still is in his shoes. The old waiter even said, “Each night I am reluctant to close up because there may be some one who needs the cafe.” The cafe represented relief because those people could feel the warmth and get the attention they need to feel more at ease. I believe that Hemingway also was saying that life is nothing. The word “nada” replaced many words in the Lord’s Pray. The old waiter also said that “it was all nothing and a man was nothing too.” Hemingway had a very realistic approach in this short story. He wanted to reader to understand that life is not all that and nothing is ever going to be perfect. Soon the young waiter will suffer from despair and loneliness just like the old waiter and old man. That is why age was such an importance in this short story. The young waiter did not understand what the older waiter meant because he has not witnessed it in his own life. Hemingway basically revealed to the reader that younger people are full of life and happiness unlike those that have been around for a while. Younger people experience life differently than older people. Hemingway is definitely a realistic writer, portraying life as it really is. Not everything is rainbows and butterflies. 

Kate Chopin “The Storm”

Kate Chopin used the different elements of the setting in “The Storm” to intensify the plot of the story. “The Storm” was not set in modern times. This is evident when Chopin wrote that “Alcee rode his horse…” In today’s society people get in their car to go to someone’s house. Seeing that this story was not set in modern times, divorce was not very common. I believe that is one reason why the characters of the story cheated and acted like nothing had occurred. It would not have been okay in the eyes of society for the characters to get a divorce from their spouses. I believe weather in this story was the main contributor in enhancing the plot. Not only was there a storm going on outside but a storm going on in the lives of the characters. Also, if it was not for the storm the events of the story would not have taken place. It all started when Alcee asked, “May I come and wait on your gallery till the storm is over, Claxita?” This set the story in motion. It started out as Alcee using Claxita’s house as a shelter from the storm but turned into so much more than that. The events of the story also unfolded as the storm went through its natural cycle. The romance between the two characters began when “a bolt stuck a tall chinaberry tree at the edge of the field.” As the storm intensified the romantic relationship between the two characters intensified. As things settled down between Alcee and Claxita the storm was beginning to fade away. I believe that the place of the story encouraged events to unfold. The physical environment that the two characters were located in was ” dining room- the sitting room- the general utility room. Adjoining was her bed room, with Bibi’s couch along side her own. The door stood open, and the room with its white, monumental bed, its closed shutters, looked dim and mysterious.” This setting was used to foreshadow what was going to occur between Aclee and Calixta. The setting in this story was more than just a setting…it told a story.  

Edgar Allan Poe “The Tell-Tale Heart”

In “The Tell-Tale Heart”, Edgar Allan Poe uses stream of consciousness throughout the short story to express the emotions of the narrator. At the beginning of the story, the narrator appears to be angry that many have noticed negative changes in him because of his disease. “The disease had sharpened my senses-not destroyed-not dulled them,” said the narrator. To me it appears that the narrator is “mad”. He said, “…I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.” His motive was to rid himself of the “Evil Eye.” The narrator attempted on many nights to kill the old man but he just could not bring himself to do it because the eye of the old man was not visible. Was he scared? or nervous? or did he really not want to kill him? On his eighth attempt, he grew nervous and scared prior to ending the man’s life because he thought that he had been caught when the old man heard a noise. The narrator killed the old man. The narrator himself seemed to be doing just fine. He was able to hide the man in the floor of the room. He even welcome the police officers in because he had nothing to worry about anymore. But soon after, he grew nervous. It was like his conscious was speaking to him. His conscious was the voice inside of him. The narrator lost it and admitted killing the old man. In my mind, it appeared that he had officially had gone mad. Basically the narrator went from being angry, to nervous, to scared, back to nervous, to satisfied and happy, to fully insane. 

The narrator himself did not think he was mad for a few reasons. He felt that since he was able to cover up the murder, for a short time, he was not mad. I believe that the narrator has a different definition of mad. For one, I think that if you kill someone based upon the look of someone’s eye, you are mad. He also believes that he is not mad because he precedes with caution when trying to peak in the man’s room. It is like he is in denial. 

Throughout this entire story, the narrator went up and down on a roller coaster of emotion. The narrator I believe is mad…mad internally. His internal madness is eating him alive. 

John Updike A & P

John Updike wrote A & P  not just as an entertaining work of fiction, but as an entertaining work of fiction that reveals a greater meaning about society. John Updike uses A & P to reveal that it is human nature to judge someone based on outward appearance. This nature stems from society. If women wear certain clothing, society labels them whether it is good or bad. In A & P, the three young ladies that walked into the grocery store with just bathing suits on made heads turn in there direction. Updike uses the word “jiggled” to describe what it did to those watching the young ladies pass by. It is human nature to stare at something out of place or unusual. This is typically followed by some sort of judgement. The store manager, Lengel, points out that what the ladies have on is not appropriate to be wearing inside the grocery store. But why does it matter what others are doing? As humans we are so concerned about what others are wearing or doing. This problem can be solely blamed on society. We no longer worry about ourselves, but rather focus our attention on others around us. 

Another issue that I believe Updike was trying to point out was that men, married or not, drool over the outward appearance of women. As the ladies walked into the store, Sammy immediately described the ladies appearance. Sammy said “…what got me, the straps were down.” The nature of most men is simple: what is on the outside comes first. Society has created sex hungry men that feed on the appearance of good-looking women. Stokesie, who is married, even said, “I feel so faint.” He was overwhelmed by the beauty of one of the ladies. 

John Updike reveals that the nature of humans is to judge based on what is visible to the outside. Society feeds us with the ideas that women are visual idols for men.