LITERATURE ANALYSIS 2

Here is the portion of my literature analysis of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations:

I was fortunate to collaborate with my colleagues: Hannah, Taylor, Serena, Bailey, Meghan and Annette on this project...

2 Examples of Direct and Indirect Characterization in the Novel:

DIRECT CHARACTERIZATION:

• "A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg..."  This excerpt directly characterized the convict, Magwitch, at the beginning of the novel, describing him to be brutish and scary.
• "...Uncle Pumblechook: a large hard-breathing middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head..."

INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION:

• "...'who am I, for God's sake, that I should be kind?'"  In this example, Miss Havisham abruptly lashes out at Pip after he discovers his true benefactor.  These blunt eruptions from Miss Havisham indirectly characterize her emotional instability.
• "You fail, or you go from my words in any patrickler, and your heart and your liver shall be tore out, roasted and ate."  Magwitch's dialogue near the beginning of the novel indirectly characterizes him to be cruel and brutish.

Is the Protagonist Flat or Round? Explain:

• Dickens built each and every one of his characters to be very round and unique in their own, special way.  Pip is no exception to this.  Pip has a very complex mindset, and as he develops from childhood into maturity, one notices the ways in which his attitude changes as well.  He is a character who truly shapes to his surroundings, as he was a poor, humble boy when he lived with Joe, and he later became a class snob once he received his fortune.  But once he discovered the many truths, he remembers his roots and develops his maturity in both love and in life.

THOUGHTS ON LIFE: INSTANCES FROM PHILOSOPHICAL ICONS

          There are various philosophies expressed within the books we read, each of which possessing their own unique tones, themes, and characters that solidly reflect their authors' principles.  For instance, if one were to analyze these elements in one of Plato's prisoners from "The Allegory of the Cave" or possibly even the four characters of Sartre's "No Exit," we should be able to clearly distinguish their philosophies from one another while also connecting some of their more similar aspects.  Since all characters within the two texts display some sort of ignorance, how would they react to a second chance based on both Plato and Sartre's intentions?
          For the sake of the example, suppose that a denizen from Plato's allegory was given a chance to see the outside world beyond the shadows of his origins.  Given that Plato's tone was insightful, one could deduce that this cave-dweller would be shocked by the new world that he must witness, and his eyes that were once kin to the darkness would have much trouble adjusting to the blinding rays of the sun.  Now, if one were to put him back into the cave, how would he respond?  Since Plato wished to display his character as a type of blind man who cannot therefore make decisions due to his inability to see, the cave-dweller would happily return to his place among his people where his thoughts on alternate realities could once again return to an ignorance where only one reality exists.  Plato's theme of ignorance is based on mankind's sense of sight.  "The Allegory of the Cave" is the middle-ground between the two quotes "Ignorance is bliss" and "Seeing is believing."
          Flip the example around to Sartre, and the outcome is a totally different philosophy.  Sartre, being an existentialist, wrote in a crude, ironic tone.  Much like the existentialist play, "Waiting for Godot," "No Exit" contains a small set of characters who constantly bicker among each other, and as their conversations constantly move forward, their positions in life stand still.  For instance, if one were to present Estella, Garcin, and Inez with a transient exit from their position, they wouldn't take it.  If God Himself announced to them that they could be free within seconds, they would argue amongst themselves until the opportunity slowly faded away.  Sartre's philosophical theme of ignorance based on his characters' inability to make agreements has inspired newer fictional authors to write novels on "Moves and counter-moves" as seen in Collins's Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
          The list goes on.  If we were to give Siddhartha enlightenment at a young age, would Herman Hesse allow his character to take it?  If we were to warn Caesar of his death before the Senate, would Shakespeare spare him?  Every piece of literature has some sort of philosophy behind it that cannot be ignored.  Every fictional author wrote for a reason.  Whether their reasons be to state the universal ignorance that succeeds through blindness or their reasons be to state the ignorance that arises from arguing, thoughts on life conclude the source of all writing, and it is up to the audience to find them.

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

READING QUESTIONS/NOTES:

"Hell is other people."

Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how it would feel to live there endlessly, night and day:

- My personal Hell is too much of just that: personal.  That being said, I'll keep that in my mind, and post something a little less graphic to this public blog.  I envision my Hell to be a place where I am trapped under water while being forced to sink further and further into an abyss, and once I reach the bottom, I'd float back to the top.  Right before I immerse from the water, I begin to sink once again, screaming but never heard.  One could probably deduce that I hate both drowning and falling.

Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety, moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?

- Have you ever experienced Chinese torture where somebody pokes you in the same spot for a long time until the repetition drives you insane?  Yes, Hell can only be Hell with the consistent repetition.  How could we suffer if we are allowed breaks?

How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?

- Sartre creates a sense of place through his description of the Second Empire room with its distinct emptiness and oddly placed furniture.  I've experienced few sleepless nights where you wish to sleep but cannot, and it's concerning to say the least.  Being unable to sleep is one of the most lethal forms of torture, especially for those who have something crowding their minds.  Garcin does not react too well to this Hell, but he reacts accordingly to his situation.  Everyday habits ARE Hell.  I suppose if you made me go to high school five times a week, I could tell you what Hell really is.  High school is just that "prison" where it is law to attend and compete with the friends who trump your enemies, while your enemies trump your happiness by driving you insane.  Not saying that I have enemies, but high school is not too fun, and I can't wait to move on from it.

Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem.  Be sure to analyze their literary techniques, especially their use of allegory and extended metaphor.

- Plato and Sartre both describe limitations to our thinking in different ways.  Plato states in "The Allegory of the Cave" that we are all simply bound to some sort of cavern where we are ignorant to reality, while Sartre presents the thought of existentialism, where he proposes questions that have no answer and create a senseless feeling within ourselves that question our existence.  A solution to these circumstances would not be an easy feat.  We'd simply have to accept all truths as real, explore all truths in order to find reality, and accept death when it comes, giving much thought to the mark we leave on Earth before death but not so much on the contemplation of death itself and the negativity that comes with not being remembered.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS PASSAGE 1

This passage is seen in Chapter 5:

"My convict looked round him for the first time, and saw me . . . I looked at him eagerly when he looked at me, and slightly moved my hands and shook my head. I had been waiting for him to see me, that I might try to assure him of my innocence. It was not at all expressed to me that he even comprehended my intention, for he gave me a look that I did not understand, and it all passed in a moment. But if he had looked at me for an hour or for a day, I could not have remembered his face ever afterwards as having been more attentive."

This passage occurs at the point where Pip journeys with the caravan of the Guard to capture and arrest the two convicts in the graveyard.  The relevance to the scene is found when Pip identifies Magwitch (the convict that he had previously helped) as "his."  This is the first noticeable time where the convict displays a different attitude that is not his normal brutish way.  He instead gives his "attention" to Pip, studying his face and making a different mark in the plot.

ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SONNET

Imagine, Glaucon, a cave where we stay

As prisoners accustomed to the dark.

What's real are not the months of June and May

And we reject new change as Noah's Ark.

Shackled in place we live and then we die

Impossible to see the source of "real."

Our senses as our guide have gone awry.

We see and listen but we cannot feel.

Yet just in front of us there lies a wall

That separates us from enlightenment.

We dread the things by no name we can call.

We cast away the men from which were sent.

And Glaucon said I see the things you see

For nothing far more truer can life be.

PLATO STUDY QUESTIONS

"The Allegory of the Cave" - Plato

1. The cave represents a prison house that binds the will to learn and achieve knowledge.  To dwell in the cave is to dwell in a state where only one of the two realities of the world exist, meaning that to dwell in the cave is to dwell as an ignorant being.
2. The key elements in the imagery are the sun, the shackles, the shadows, and the cave itself.
3. Enlightenment and education resemble man's ascent out of the cave, where we are blinded by a new world of higher wisdom that is achieved when leaving behind ignorance.
4. The "shackles" in the cave symbolize man's stubbornness.  Much like the business man who becomes so stuck in routine that if anything were to disrupt it, he would hate the change, this is true as well for the dwellers of the cave who become stuck in a state of ignorance and deny change to their ways.
5. Today, routine is the ultimate shackle to our lives as variety is the spice.
6. A freed prisoner "goes into the light" as a caved prisoner "comes from the light," which accurately states the two ways in which we see everything, discerning the shadows from the objects.  A freed prisoner and a caved prisoner are about as alike as the wise man and the ignorant.
7. Intellectual confusion can occur when letting knowledge become something that binds the mind or when we refuse to see the objects while only seeing their shadows.
8. According to the allegory, we, as human beings, already possess the soul of ascension, yet we choose to live in the dark in many areas.  It is up to us to free our intellectual minds ourselves, because we are able to make that choice on our own.
9. I agree in full that there is a distinction between appearance and reality.  Just the other day, I saw someone I once knew, and I thought, "Wow, that person looks like a genuinely good human being," when in reality, they could be a whole different person filled with self-interest or bad intentions.
10. If Socrates is incorrect, there are always two metaphysical assumptions: the ultimate goal of knowledge is to know the "good," and these things are separated into two worlds which are the intellectual and the sensible.

HAMLET REMIX

My Hamlet Remix can be found on Shane Hunter's blog.  It is a video of our adventure to Pismo Beach, CA that exhibits performative utterance in real life.  We said what we were going to do before we did it, similar to how Hamlet meditated upon his actions and came to conclusions before he actually took action.