Death Unit- Death, be not proud

The poem Death, be not proud by John Donne address death in a way that most people may not. "Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so" [Donne, 971]. Donne says that death is something that can't be proud because it is something that should not be feared. Death in itself is eternal sleep, something that should not be seen as scary. Most people are afraid of death and I know I cannot even bring myself to think of what it would be like to die. Donne says that since it is sleep and sleep is pleasurable, death must be even more pleasurable... (crazy and a little weird but alright). Death is a slave to fate, chance (accidental death), kings (who have the power of life and death), and desperate men. Donne is clearly seeing death's positives and not looking at how hard it would be on his family or how hard it would be not to see his family ever again. I guess if you're dead it wouldn't matter.

Death Unit- Do Not Go into That Good Night

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas is a poem that uses the title multiple times in the poem itself. The irony that belongs to the name is that "that good night" refers to death. In this poem, there seems to be apprehension towards an older man. It might be younger man who is concerned with the death of his father. It seems to talk about how he hates old age. He is scared of loosing his father and wishes that he could keep his father for as long as possible. "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" [Thomas, 968]. This son sees his father as his light, his illumination. He dreads the thought of him dying but says that he has been a good person who has lived his live to the fullest and enjoyed what he has. His father has lived a great life and has taught him to do the same. It seems that there is a strong bond between the father and the son. The son now knows that he must do what he can to stay alive.

Death Unit- Crossing the Bar

The poem, Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, approaches death with two sets of figures. He uses "Sunset and evening star," and "Twilight and evening bell," as his two figures. Death is a like a sunset. When our life is ending, things start to shut off. A sunset does the same thing! When you think about it, light (youth) is with us through the entire day illuminating us and slowly at 6-8 p.m., it begins to darken slowly (death). Death comes slow and gradual, like a sunset. Death is like a twilight as well. Twilight is darkness at the end of the day. Death is darkness at the end of your life. Death is an extension of twilight. Death is forever. The precise moment in these two sets of figures occurs "When I put out to sea," and "When I embark" [Tennyson, 886]. In addition, I relate well to this poem because of the wanted avoidance of sadness and farewells. I despise farewells because of the sadness they bring and I want those who mourn me to be happy that I was in their lives and to cherish the moments they spent with me. Everyone will eventually be together in heaven in the end, right?

Death Unit- A Rose for Emily

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner presents a bizarre woman, Emily, which has a hard time letting go of the past. When a person does not have the best relationships with people, they seclude themselves into a world of extreme comfort. Emily secluded herself from the world and found extreme comfort in keeping to herself things that made her feel accompanied. Although this is not directly stated, we can infer this when she has "ministers calling on her, and the doctors, trying to persuade her to let them dispose of the body" [Faulkner, 285]. Emily was having trouble part with her father, even if he was dead. Emily did not want a number to be put on her house for her to attain an address. Again, she was not modern. She was living in the past. She couldn't let go of it and it was messing with her sanity. Eventually it became so bad that it is believed she poisoned the man she wanted to marry and kept his corpse for 40 years. She wanted him all to herself because she wanted some sort of company. Although it is really sad that she was that lonely, I think that those extremes of having trouble letting go of things are haunting and disturbing.

Death Unit- The Lottery

When thinking about the word "lottery", what usually comes to mind is going to your local gas station and buying a Hoosier Lottery number and hope that you get the right numbers in order to win. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson gives another meaning to the word "lottery". Peculiarly in this short story, winning meant death. When reading this story, I sensed that the lottery mentioned here and the lottery we think of modernly were way different. For example they mentioned that in some villages "the whole lottery took less than two hours..." [Jackson, 263-4]. A normal lottery would not take this long to decide the winner. It is also very weird that most of the village agrees to how the lottery runs. Why would families who have grown up together want to kill people of their own village. Although it is a human sacrifice for their harvest time, killing a person of your own family or village would be so hard. This is true yet they all go about doing these things nonchalantly. There is no hesitation and there seems to be no sadness from the spouses or children. What a sad story!

The Glass Menagerie- 5

The language that Tom uses to narrate is much more calm and knowing than the Tom as a character. It is as if Tom's narration is his most inner conscious. "I knew that Jim and Laura has known each other at Soldan, and I had heard Laura speak admiringly of his voice. I didn't know if Jim remembered her or not. In high school Laura had been as unobtrusive as Kim had been astonishing" [Perrine, 1262]. Tom was a drunkard in character. He was a man that had dreams of adventures and was not centered into the world he was living in. Tom as a narrator was. He seemed to know what he was saying and to know what he was doing. There would have been a big change in the story if the all-knowing and calm Tom would have been his character. There would have been less quarrels between Amanda and him and there would have been a more balanced family life for Laura than there was presently. Tom's manner as a character was too hard-headed and rebellious. This proves that Tom knew what he was doing wrong but was doing nothing to stop it. Tom just wanted to have fun and be like his father.

The Glass Menagerie-4

The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is not like any play that I have seen or read before. This play is a memory, a nonrealistic piece. In the story, the narrator comes out and bluntly tells us that he is a narrator and a character. When we read or watch a play, the narrator is not supposed to do this. In fact, in order to be as realistic as possible, there should not be a narrator. We do not go around in our life with someone narrating our lives do we? The lighting  and music that are in the play are also big indicators that we are dealing with an unrealistic work. Emphasis on certain objects happens by us telling people directly and if we do not want it to be known, we do not say anything at all. When the characters don't say anything at all, the lights and music give away the feeling or thoughts that are expressed by them. In reality, we do not have lights and music that do this for us. " As if in answer, the father's grinning photograph lights up" [Perrine, 1249]. A thing that is unavoidable but also unrealistic, is not having a fourth wall. This causes seating and positioning in the room to be different than what it would have been if there would have been a fourth wall and we could peer from above. Peering from above would have give it a more realistic feel since these people are able to sit and move around in any direction.

The Glass Menagerie- 3

Tom's drinking in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, is very apparent. It amazes me how Amanda seems so oblivious to it and it makes me wonder if that is the reason why her husband decided to leave her. She was always telling Tom not to be selfish when in reality it is her being selfish. She was always complaining about the life she always wanted but never had. She always pushed her children to be the best they could, but she herself was not doing anything to better herself or try to financially do something for the family. Children see, children do. If Amanda did not try to better herself and they had the example of the father quitting out on the family, the children would do just the same. Tom left multiple times and said he was going to the movies and would come home late at night. He came home one day and told Laura he was drinking because of a magician... why would a magician give a show at a movie theater? Does not make sense to me. "First it turned to wine and then it turned to beer and then it turned to whiskey. I know it was whiskey it finally turned into because he needed somebody to come up out of the audience to help him, and I came up-both shows!" [Perrine, 1249]. Tom was completely lying!

The Glass Menagerie- 2

The glass menagerie in The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is symbolic to Laura's character and reflects her completely. Laura is said to be very fragile, as is glass. Glass breaks so easily and that glass is broken several times. When Laura begins attending college, her nervous and shy manner causes her to vomit in class and to become so embarrassed that she drops out. This is obviously not normal, it brings in front of me a thought that she might have some psychological problem. A normal person is not so shy that she throws up and so embarrassed about it that she cannot show her face to school. Also, Laura becomes this sick when her high school crush, Jim has been invited to eat with her family. She cannot even open the door because she has a panic attack, something that also shows that she has a psychological problem. " Laura is still huddled upon the sofa, her feet drawn under her, her head resting on a pale blue pillows, her eyes wide and mysteriously watchful. The new floor lamp with its shade of rose-colored silk gives a soft, becoming light to her face, bringing out the fragile, unearthly prettiness which usually escapes attention" (Perrine, 1271). Laura is fragile; her emotions are so bizarre and unorganized that she appears to have no control over herself. When her brother has knocked over the glass menagerie and broken it to pieces, that is the same that happens to Laura because of the craziness of her family.

The Glass Menagerie

The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams is one of the more entertaining works that we have been presented with in AP Literature. While the family was absolutely bizarre, the story seemed to have natural elements of a broken family. There was a missing father, but he impacted the story greatly. More than any other person in the actual story did, actually. The father was a symbol of ambition for Tom and a sign of regret for Amanda. Tom wanted to be just like his father, to be able to get away. Tom wanted to travel, to leave and see the world. "I'm like my father. The bastard son of a bastard! See how he grins? And he's been absent going on sixteen years!" (Perrine, 1269). Tom at this point is talking to Jim and telling him all about how he has great dreams and plans of leaving the South. Amanda always refers to him and her disappointment in having married him. She speaks of him as if she regrets ever being with him. "All of my gentlemen callers were sons of planters and so of course I assumed that I would be married to one and raise my family on a large piece of land with plenty of servants. But man proposes and women accepts the proposal -to car that old, old saying a little bit- I married no planter! I married a man who worked for the telephone company" (Perrine, 1270). Amanda wanted the best like she could have and for her, that would be a life of riches, material things, and no absent husband.