Journal 13

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life?  How is this object representative of him?

A sailboat is representative of George Gray’s life because he did not live an active life.  He tells the reader to “lift the sail and cath the winds of destiny.”

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s?  How do you interepret the last line of the poem?     

Lucinda Matlock seemed to have lived a fuller life than George Cray.  She mentions all of the things she did in her life.  The last line, “it takes life to love Life,” means that in order for someone to enjoy their life, they must take chances and experience life.

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?

“George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” are examples of realism because they are unadventurous stories about normal people with average lives.

Journal 12

1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative).  What do the following represent?

Young Goodman Brown – someone who loses faith/innocence; trying to resist; average person

            Faith – faithfulness

           

            The Elderly Traveller/Fellow-Traveller – devil, the face of evil

           

Goody Cloyse – those who seem to be good but are really evil (hypocracy)

The Ceremony – accepting and celebrating evil; confirming their acknowledgment of sin

The Pink Ribbon – proof that faith is lost

Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – human’s inevitable fall inclination to evil

                       

2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”: 

Theme                       Message of Theme                 Element Used to Establish  

Human Nature

Mankind has a natural inclination towards evil.

Characterization

In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.

“The deacons of many a church have drunk the communion wine with me; the selectmen of divers towns make me their chairman; and a majority of the Great and General Court are firm supporters of my interest.”

“What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven: is that any reason why I should quit my dear Faith and go after her?''

“At least there were high dames well known to her, and wives of honored husbands, and widows, a great multitude, and ancient maidens, all of excellent repute, and fair young girls, who trembled lest their mothers should espy them.”

Journal 11

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (232)

The key to living a good life is to live simply and only with the essentials.

Quote: “…to drive life into a corner and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

“Sounds” (234)

In society, people need to find entertainment through interaction, but he finds the best way to entertain himself is by using his senses to observe nature.

Quote: “I had this advantage at least in my mode of lide, over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theater, that my life itself

“Brute Neighbors” (235)

Telling about an ants life and comparing it to a humans.  The greatness of the ants is exaggerated in order to understate the greatness of people and our behaviors.  The reflection of who humans are is shown in the actions of the ants that make the ants seem heroic but we look bad.

            Quote: “I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black.”

“The Pond in Winter” (237)

The fishermen live in simplicity, the pond is frozen over and he sees that men are still fishing through the ice.  You must go out into nature and experience it ourselves.  Even when it seems things are at rest, nature is still thriving.

Quote: “But there was dawning nature, in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broad windows with serene and satisfied face, and no question on her lips.”

“Spring” (238)

Everything is starting to change with the beginning of spring.  He talks of a wise man that he could never mimic no matter how he changes.  The high point of nature is spring because it is a rebirth or creation of something from seemingly nothing.  He decides that he needs to move onto other experiences.

Quote: “As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.”

Journal 10

At the end of the play Othello, an insightful speech is delivered by the hero, Othello.  Othello gave his speech in order to encourage the witnesses to remember him for his good qualities instead of his wrong doings before he killed himself.  Othello says, "...must you speak of one that loved not wisely but too well, of one not easily jealous, but being wrought perplex'd in the extreme."  In that quote Othello tried to convince the audience that he loved Desdemona passionately even though he made a mistake, and he would not have been a jealous man if he had not been tricked by Iago.

Journal 9

The play Othello written by William Shakespeare focuses on two major themes.  The first theme is free will, which means the freedom to make decisions without external circumstances.  Free will is demonstrated in Othello through the determination of characters to take course of action.  For example, Iago claimed to not be completely at fault for lying to Othello about Desdemona’s faithfulness because Othello could choose to believe Iago’s lies.  Another example is that Roderigo agreed to help Iago by accompanying Iago and accidentally giving him money.  In that case, Roderigo could have ignored his love for Desdemona, but instead he chose to listen to Iago so he could pursue Desdemona.

            The second theme is determinism.  Determinism is synonymous with fate in that events cannot be changed by the human will.  Othello’s relationship with Desdemona is often thought to have been an inevitable failure for many reasons.  One of the reasons is that Desdemona and Othello were not compatible.  For example, Iago implied that Othello is too old and ugly for Desdemona who is young and beautiful; also, racial differences could have caused tension.  Iago played a minor role in undermining the love between Othello and Desdemona.