The Dead

This week we read a short story by James Joyce called "The Dead".

 

 

The story focuses on a young man named Gabriel who attends a party held by his aunts and cousin. Gabriel arrives with his wife Gretta. While one of the servants, Lily, takes his coat he asks her a rather personal question regarding her love life which earns him an irritated and snappy response. Gabriel is uncomfortable by this but instead of apologizing or explaining, he just leaves the conversation and then explains how his education is what had made him unable to relate to servants. Almost everything seems to irritate Gabriel, even his aunt teasing him about his love for galoshes. Later, Gabriel finds himself dancing with Miss Ivors, a lover of all things Irish, which Gabriel happens to be. They enter into a conversation about Ireland and Miss Ivors tells Gabriel a place he should visit that celebrates Irish culture. Gabriel doesn't know how to respond to Miss Ivors question and conversation so she calls him out on his lack of interest in his country. Gabriel, frustrated by this, blurts out that he is sick of his country. Before dinner, Gabriel gives a wonderful speech about hospitality, living in the moment, enjoying all that life has to offer and not lingering on the past but really loving the present. Everyone enjoys it. After dinner, Gabriel realizes that Gretta is transfixed by a song that Mr. Bartell D’Arcy is singing. This makes Gabriel recall their courtship and he feels a strong sense of love for her in that moment. This is not matched by Gretta though, as she is despondent and detached the rest of the night. Gabriel is, of course, frustrated by this, and after questioning her about her mood she tells him that she was transfixed by the song because it was one that an old lover of hers, Michael Fury once sang to her. He died from the cold while waiting outside her window.

 

That's the gist of the whole story and I believe it is a beautiful one with a great message.

 

Gabriel realizes something profound at the end of this story. That although he had a wonderful education, gave great inspiring speeches, and had a beautiful wife, he was lacking something so important to fulfillment in life: passion. Gabriel had no passion for his life and instead was bothered by most things. Upon hearing the story of Michael Fury, he realized that although Michael had died young he had lived such a greater life than Gabriel had even the chance to.

He realized that he was not passionate about people, thus the exchange with Lily. He didn't really care what she had to say and was therefore pretty rude to her.

He wasn't passionate about his country, he only spoke of it because he knew he aught to, thus the exchange with Miss Avis.

He wasn't even very passionate about his own wife, Gretta, thus the sad ending in which he realized that she was passionate towards a lover who had so much love for her that he had died.

 

I think that this story is a universal and relatable one. I think we all know people like Gabriel who are just living the motions in their life and who are going to die with very little to look back on. Living your life this way is an easy way to not be hurt, but a sad way to live.

 

I recommend everyone read this story.

Check it out here.

Great Expectations

This week we are reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This book is not only a great example of Victorian literature but also an all around wonderful book to read.

In this post I'm going to summarize the first part of Great Expectations and talk about the themes that relate this book to all Victorian literature. I will post Friday about the rest of the book.

So, here's basically what happens.

The book is about a young boy (who later turns into a young man) named Pip. His real name is Phillip but he has always gone by Pip. Pip is an orphan and is raised by his much older sister Mrs. Joe and her husband, Mr. Joe Gargery. Joe is a blacksmith and a very simple man who knows very little.

Pip is not treated well by his sister. She spends most of her time complaining about having raised Pip by hand. She thinks he is quite a nuisance when he is only being a kid. She often beats him and makes him take medicine when he does not behave. She doesn't treat Joe much better and although Joe doesn't really stand up for Pip, they seem to understand and like each other.

At the beginning of the story Pip is out on the marshes by a graveyard looking at the tombstones of his parents when an escaped criminal comes upon him. The criminal asks Pip to meet him again the next night with some food and a file for his chains. He scares Pip into doing this by telling him he has a scary friend with him that would hurt him, but Pip seemed to be willing to do the task anyway.

Pip brings the criminal the food although he is scared of what his sister might do when she finds he has been stealing from the pantry. The criminal thanks him, eats the food, and then Pip and the criminal part ways...for a while.

Later, the Gargerys are having a dinner with some friends and Pip's uncle Mr. Pumblechook. Right when Mrs. Joe goes to the pantry to find a meat pie (that is missing because Pip took it), the police come to the door needing Joe's assistance with a lock related to finding 2 criminals that have been hiding in the marshes. Joe takes care of the lock and in return, he and Pip get to follow the police as they chase down the criminals. When they come upon Pip's criminal friend, they arrest him as Joe and Pip watch. The criminal then tells the police that he stole from Joe's pantry, letting Pip off the hook for this act. It's strange that the criminal would help him but also very kind.

A while later, Pip is invited to a rich lady uptown's house to play. Her name is Miss Havisham and she is quite famous around town. Pip's sister and uncle Pumblechook are quite excited about this as they think that she will give Pip something (most likely money). When Pip arrives, a young girl named Estella escorts him upstairs to Miss Havisham's dressing room. Miss Havisham is strange. She always wears her old yellowing wedding dress and one shoe; all her clocks are stopped at 9:20 and her house sees no daylight for it is only lit by candles. Miss Havisham makes Pip and Estella play cards and comments often on how pretty Estella is. Estella is very mean to Pip. She teases him and toys with him; lets him kiss her and then calls him names. She makes fun of his hands, which are callous from work and his work shoes.

When Pip goes home, he has changed. For the first time he is ashamed of his house, his family, his hands and his shoes. He hates that he is common and uneducated. He longs to become a gentleman and will never again be satisfied with his simple life.


This brings us to the first example of an abundant theme throughout Victorian literature: Economic status and classes.

Victorian texts often focus on the distinct differences between upper and lower (or working) class and rich versus poor. Pip is completely satisfied with his life until he realizes how good some people have it and then he begins to covet this. The chase for title and money will define the rest of the book and Pip's life. It will cost him friendships and much more. As in many Victorian texts, the quest for a "better" and more esteemed life is evident.


 

Victorian Literature

So, last week in class we were discussing Romantic Literature. This week, we are talking about something completely different.

 

Victorian Literature.

 

While Romantic texts focused more on emotions, love, nature and beauty Victorian texts focus on economy, hard work, science, religion, and struggles of everyday life.

 

Here of some key differences between Victorian literature and Romantic literature.

 

Romantic: Views nature as beautiful and harmonious

Victorian: Views nature as harsh and cruel

 

Romantic: focuses on the desire for a utopian society (perfect and beautiful)

Victorian: focuses on utilitarian society (useful, realistic)

 

Romantic: focuses on evolution of self, self-growth

Victorian: focuses on evolution of society and economy

 

If you would like a complete list of Victorian authors, visit http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/.

 

Probably the most well-known Victorian author is Oscar Wilde. You can read some of his poems here.

Frankenstein

 

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

 

This week in class we are reading the romantic novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.

I really enjoyed the novel and I really feel that it's a great book to further your understanding of romanticism in literature.

 

One of the main components of romanticism is the beauty of memories and emotion and this is something prevalent throughout the novel. As Victor tells his story he is extremely grateful and emotional upon talking about his family and his childhood. He takes pages just to tell of his childhood and how fondly he remembers it. This reminds me of "Ode to Intellectual Beauty" and how it talks about the beauty of one's memories and experiences.

 

Another component of romanticism is the beauty of nature. This is expressed primarily through the creation that Victor Frankenstein made. The creature finds solace and comfort in nature that he couldn't find in the villages because they were afraid of him. Later, after William's murder and Justine's execution, Victor himself finds the same comfort from fleeing into the mountains and enjoying nature. It seems to be the only thing that comforts him from the awful events that have happened and the guilt he feels from creating the monster.

 

While these are just a few of the romantic elements found in Frankenstein, they are certainly the strongest to me and helped me understand a romantic text versus a realistic text.