Close Reading #4 (12/16/12)

http://www.thegloss.com/2012/12/14/sex-and-dating/lori-gottleib-rich-married-single/

Women Don't Want To Be Married, We Just Want To Be Rich" by Jennifer Wright covers a topic dealing with our society's "right of passage": marriage. Arguing that some don't necessarily need to look for a husband to start a family, Wright communicates her options through clear syntax and diction.

Wright used syntax in a variety of sentence lengths. Using compound sentences to eloquently explain her reasoning communicates a thought-out argument. Scattered throughout these longer sentences are shorter sentence fragments. These communicate Wright's more immediate thoughts. ("You are an industry.") These choppy, short sentences mimic ones actual thought pattern, allowing the reader to almost hear Wright's thoughts and opinions, almost as if she's speaking what springs immediately to mind. The structure of the sentences shorter sentences take the form of declarative sentences. They are assertive - a statement. ("Just do it. Even if you're married. Even if you're a bigamist.") By mixing periodic sentences (reflections on details before the subject and verb) and loose sentences (details after the subject and verb) Wright creates a balance of what is happening now, and reflections on past events. Balancing this through longer, more thought-out sentences and shorter, more informal sentences, Wright uses a variety of syntax techniques to get her point across.

Another tool uses to get her point across is diction. Using informal, conversational language to add pauses for reflection ("Well, yes..." "Of course,..." "I suppose...") she mimics the ebb & flow a natural conversation. 

By using monosyllabic words in her shorter sentences, and polysyllabic words in her longer ones, she pairs melds similar styles of diction with syntax. Wrights use of varied diction & syntax show off a unique voice in her article, toying with the idea that women don't want to be married, they just want to be rich.

Open Prompt #4 (12/9/12)

1972 in retrospect, the reader often discovers that the first  chapter of a novel or opening scene of a drama introduces some of the major themes of the work. Write an essay about the opening scene of a drama or the first chapter of a novel in which you explain how it functions in this way.

The Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess opens with Alex and his droogs drinking and planning out their evening. But this seemingly normal evening spirals into something much darker and more complex, showcasing themes and messages that appear thought the rest of the book. Free will, violence, and opposition.

After Alex and his friends finish drinking they try to figure out what to do with their night . From this simple decision Alex exercises free will in the form of his thoughts and actions. Anthony Burgess put priority on "freedom to choose being the greatest human attribute". This presence of moral choice sets humans apart. Alex displays this theme on several occasions when making choices. After leaving the milk bar he and his friends beat up an elderly professor, lie about it to the police officers, and goes out again to rob a corner store and beats the shopkeeper and his wife. This sets up how Alex's free will and immoral choices steer him towards a path paved with rape, theft, and violence.

Leading into the next theme, violence. The obviously example of violence shown would be when Alex and his gang assault the old man, rip his clothes, and destroy his books; when they attack and steal from the shopkeeper and his wife, who are later hospitalized. This theme creates the start to a chain of violent rapes, murders, beating, and betrayals.

The chain is carried on with the theme of opposition. No matter the circumstances, Alex is always up against something. Whether its Alex vs. the government, Alex vs. the police, Alex vs. his victims, Alex vs. his droogs, Alex vs. himself, etc., he is always up against  opposition. 

The opposition, coupled with violence and free will help set up the first chapter of A Clockwork Orange with themes that carry throughout the rest of the book.

Death of a Salesman Summary/Analysis

Main info:

• Arthur Miller
• Play
• Published 1949 Viking Press
• Genre:  tragedy, drama, social commentary

 Setting:

• Time: Willy's "present" = (1940's?), mixed with Willy's daydreams
• Brooklyn, travels to NY and Boston
• Set in the Loman house 
•  We are aware of towering angular shapes behind it, surrounding it on all sides...As more light appears , we see a solid vault of apartment houses around the small, fragile-seeming home. An air of dream clings to the place a dream rising out of reality.  
• The entire set is wholly, or, in some places, partially transparent. The roof-line of the house is one-dimensional; under and over it we see the apartment buildings.
• Biff & Happy talk in their bedroom
• Behind the kitchen, on a level raised six and a half feet, is the boys' bedroom, at present barely visible. Two beds are dimly seen, and at the back of the room a dormer window. (This bedroom is above the unseen living-room.) At the left a stairway curves up to it from the kitchen.
• Biff & Linda talk a little in the main bedroom 
• To the right of the kitchen, on a level raised two feet, is a bedroom furnished only with a brass bedstead and a straight chair. On a shelf over the bed a silver authentic trophy stands. A window opens onto the apartment house at the side.
• MAIN ACTION happens in the kitchen
• The kitchen at center seems actual enough, for there is a kitchen table with three chairs and a refrigerator. But no other fixtures are seen. At the back of the kitchen there is a draped entrance, which leads to the kitchen.
• Loman backyard --> "flashbacks" of playing ball w/Biff/family/planting seeds in the present
• Before the house lies an apron, curving beyond the forestage into the orchestra. This forward serves as the backyard as well as the locale of all Willy's imaginings and of his city scenes.
• Sales offices
• Frank's Chop House
• "Flashback" setting: hotel room w/the other woman

• Stage/setting boundaries - entering & exiting
• Action: actors observe the imaginary wall-lines (entering the house only through the its door on the left)
• Scenes of the past: boundaries are broken, characters enter/leave a room by stepping "through" a wall onto the forestage

• Social environment: 
• Power structure/struggles: 
• Household: Willy obviously has power over Linda (who almost silently manipulates him?) with Biff (and sometimes Happy) intervening and "putting Willy back in his place" in relation to Linda. Happy doesn't have much influence.
• Willy dotes on his boys (especially Biff)
• Ben has power over Willy (Willy looking up to him? Emulating him?)
• Charlie almost envies Willy, although Charley is more successful
• Bernard vs. Biff/Willy - in the beginning Willy/Biff make fun of and tease Bernard, but in the present Bernard is more successful (& higher up on the financial/power ladder)
• Vulnerability: 
• Willy is psychologically/financially vulnerable
• Linda is vulnerable when it concerns Willy (fears desertion?) & financially when he dies
• Biff is finally figuring what he does(n't) want in his life - most power?
• Happy has deluded himself into thinking he can withstand society's pressures --> makes him most vulnerable?

• Dominant Impression:
• The way the set is described makes it seem transparent, generic (Miller says "we're all Willy Loman") and because the set is so minimalistic it could be conveyed that the Loman's are any family --> the play is set all over the world
• Passage of time:
• Unclear, although there is a definite difference between Willy's "present" and his "flashbacks"...it's to hard to keep track of

Plot:

• Freytag's Pyramid: The Elements of Plot
• Status Quo: intro of characters, setting, & conflict at the beginning
• Introduce Willy, Linda, Happy, & Biff. Willy comes home, fights w/Linda about the boys, worries about his job, decides to talk to the boss, Happy & Biff talk - about jobs, Willy
• Rising Action: events that complicate/intensify the conflict
• Willy talks to his boss, gets fired, runs into Charley and Bernard, (flashbacks throughout - introduced to Ben, younger family), Biff & Happy go the the restaurant, meet Ms. Absynthe, and leave Willy alone at the restaurant (delusional?)
• Climax: point of greatest tension
• The movie really intensifies Willy's breakdown at the restaurant (reliving Biff discovering him and the other woman)
• Resolution: where conflict may/may not be resolved
• I think it's more of a "may not be resolved"
• Happy & Biff come home to find Linda furious & Willy in the backyard. An argument ensues, Biff exposes Willy's suicide plan, they fight it out, Willy "realizes" Biff loves him, they go upstairs,  Willy stays in the kitchen talking to Ben, leaves and crashes the car (killing himself)
• Funeral: Linda laments Willy's death, Biff heads out (Why didn't more people come?)
•  What conflicts does it dramatize? 
• Certainty in oneself, success (fiscal vs. personal), relevance in the face of change, the "American Dream" 
•  Qualities of protagonist & antagonist:
• Willy seems to be the stories protagonist and antagonist (fights against himself)/...American society
• External/Internal conflicts
• External: money, jobs
• Internal: Willy's mind (keeping present & past separate), depression, struggles w/i the family

Significant Characters:

• Willy - dynamic, depressed, wistful, feels cheated by life, ambitious, "tall tales" (exaggerates own importance), caved to society's standards/pressure
• Linda - static,"Madonna"(in Madonna/whore), dependent on Willy, verbally abused, able to convince/persuade Willy - Alaska
• Biff - dynamic,"golden boy", switches job frequently, outdoors/manual labor, only one who acknowledges problem & vows to set off & strike his own path
• Happy - static, eager to please, doesn't get attention, (Willy-in-the-making), superficial
• Ben - static (because we only see a snippet of him through Willy's eyes), wealthy (dirty money), worldy, Willy looks up to him (older brother/successful)

Narrative voice/author's style:

• Point of view:
• The play helps translates Miller's view on the changing society and the common man 
• Tone: (I'm a bit confused about this bit.)
• A bit absurd?
• Realism
• Cynical
• Imagery/Symbolism
• repeated images/symbols: diamonds, stockings, the rubber hose, broken parts of the house, money, dairy products, (not an image - but the flute)

Quotes

•    "He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine."
• Charley's requiem about Willy depicts Willy's determination to make a path for himself - with only his wits and talent ("a smile and a shoeshine")

•  "Cause what could be more satisfying than to be able to go, at the age of eighty-four, into twenty or thirty different cities, and pick up a phone, and be remembered and loved and helped by so many different people?"
•  This conveys Willy's drive and goals in his life - it shows what he strives for and what he longs to be. In addition to laying out what he holds dear, it shows what Willy wants most - recognition and success.

Response to Course Material #4

Hamlet...Hamlet...
Here's my opinion on Shakespeare: I either love it or hate it. I usually like Shakespeare's comedies, simply because no one important dies at the end. And it usually ends well for the main characters. Like our packet on comedy says, I recognize my own shortcomings on the characters and like laughing about it.
Tragedies, however, just frustrate me. Everyone is so melodramatic and tragic and angsty! They take everything so seriously (and I know that's kind of the point of a tragedy, but that's just my personal preference. I'm fairly familiar with the plot of Hamlet, but it's interesting learning about the historical facts that go along with it. I feel like this really helps me understand what's going on. I usually find it challenging comprehending what the characters are saying because I don't know where to begin in the whole mess off illusions and language and tone that is Shakespeare. So I really like being able to stop before/after each scene and having Ms. Holmes explain what's going on.

Being about a week into working from the textbook I think I'm going to see if I can buy/download a copy of the the text, because the whole sticky notes thing isn't really working for me. I'm used to the underlining and difference colored pens!
We've only been working on the new text for a week and my previous Response to Course Material covered all of Death of a Salesman so I can't really think of anything else to write about.