The monster

I wanted to talk about the monster in Frankenstein. There are several themes on Frankenstein—one of them is the victim and victimizer theme. I’m going to examine the role of the monster. Is he good or bad? Is he the victim or victimizer? First, I want to examine his creation. Another theme in the novel, the unnatural creation applies to the monster. He was not made by God nor woman—making him a monster. He was made by Victor, a scientist who was obsessed with the creation of life. After Victor saw the results of his creation, he was so terrified that he abandoned the monster. An interesting question to pose here is: If Victor knew that the monster he created was sympathetic and human-like except for his outer appearances; would he still have abandoned him? Nevertheless, Victor did abandon him and this traumatized the monster. At this point in the story line, the monster is definitely the victim of Victor’s obsession with the creation of life. Through the monster’s recounts, the readers become aware of the human-like nature of the monster. As the monster recounts his observations about the Delaceys, it becomes clear that the monster has emotions and sympathy, whether that be feeling guilty of stealing their food because they suffer from poverty or actually helping them out by fetching firewood every night. Like a creature without a father, the monster becomes very closely attached to the Delaceys. He sees how close the Delaceys are and begins to understand what a family is. The Delaceys are the antithesis of the monster’s existence. They are a family—they care for each other like a genuine caring community. On the other hand, the monster is alone. He is the epitome of isolation, much like Grendel was. Desperately needing companion, Victor decides to approach the Delaceys even though he has seen his horrible image. Assuming that the Delaceys will accept him for who he is and provide him with the companionship he yearns for, he approaches the blind man. Things go wrong and the Delaceys drive him off with violence. This is the turning point for the monster. Before this point, the monster was an innocent victim. But now, he has transformed into a true monster—one with a desire for revenge and blood. But now we have to ask ourselves: whose fault is it? The monster eventually ends up killing two people, both indirectly and directly. There are far and few instances where killing is justified, and this case is no different. The monster’s murders are in no way justified, despite the fact that he was constantly abandoned by society. However, his actions can all be traced back to his creation. It was Victor, not the monster, that decided to partake in the act of unnatural creation. Furthermore, Victor abandoned the monster that was lost and helpless in our judgemental and cruel society. So in this respect, I believe that Victor is the victimizer and the monster is the victim. Although the monster becomes more “monsterly” as the novel progresses.

Beowulf and Grendel

In the last two chapters of Grendel, Beowulf and the Geats arrive to save the Danes. Beowulf is strikingly different from how he was described and portrayed in the original epic poem. Although the Beowulf in the novel Grendel has the same physical attributes and strength as Beowulf did in the original epic poem, the similarities end right there. In the epic poem, Beowulf is portrayed as a great man who possesses all the heroic qualities an archetypal hero should have. He represented the values and morals of the wergild society that dominated back then. Honor, generosity, and loyalty all perfectly characterized Beowulf. There was no question in the epic poem that Beowulf was the good guy. However, John Gardiner changes this in Grendel. He makes Beowulf look so different from the original Beowulf in the epic poem that I was unsure of the character Beowulf after I had finished reading the very confusing novel Grendel. To me, Beowulf seemed really creepy. During the fight between him and Grendel, Beowulf starts to menacingly whisper very weird things in Grendel’s ears. Perhaps it’s because the readers, including myself, were so used to Grendel that we felt sympathetic towards him. It’s almost like the roles of Grendel and Beowulf completely switched in the novel Grendel. Grendel in the original epic poem is a complete heartless monster who does not think and just kills as many people as he can. I think that I got perhaps attached to the character Grendel. In the novel, Grendel is portrayed as a monster who was abandoned and very lonely. He also doesn’t know who he really is himself. The novel centers around Grendel setting out on a quest to really discover himself. Also, Grendel thinks a lot. I would have never expected Grendel to be a thoughtful monster from the original epic poem, but he is in the novel. He constantly thinks about not only events, but the world in general. The opening chapter in the novel took me by surprise. He appears to have a very sinister view of the world but at the same time seems very knowledgeable. He completely understands the mechanical nature of the ram. It is revealed in the next chapter that he began to understand that the world was a mechanical place from the bull he encounters. When Grendel accidentally entraps himself between the tree trunks, a bull appears. Grendel is at first frightened by the bull as he looks as if he is ready to attack. When the bull begins to run at Grendel to pierce him with his horns, Grendel is frightened. However, when the bull tries to attack the same spot every single time he attacks, grendel starts to laugh as he realizes the harmlessness of the bull because he is a mechanical animal who can not think. It is things like this that portrays Grendel as a monster who constantly thinks about his surroundings. In the end when Grendel dies, I honestly felt kind of sad.

Shaper and Dragon

The character Shaper in Grendel fascinates me. On the outer surface, he seems like a mere old man who entertains the Danes. But he has such a greater role. To begin to understand his character, we need to know some historical context of when the events of Beowulf actually occurred. During that time, writing had not really been developed. As a result, stories were passed orally and essentially, this preserved the culture of the Danes. Thus, these story tellers were just as important and respected as the warriors because the story tellers were protecting the identity of their culture. I could only imagine the royal treatment and respect these shapers received from the people. The shapers were the only people who knew the history of the people.

The shapers also dramatically rewrote much of their history. They had all the power to do so and purposely exaggerated man’s glory in all their songs. For example, if the Danes fought a war with the Geats and won by a narrow margin, the shapers would definitely claim that they had trampled over the Geats. Therein lies one of the major sources of the Shapers power. They made history. They wrote it. They altered it. That earned the deep respect of Grendel. Strangely, a monster even like Grendel understands the power the Shaper possess. The poetry the Shaper sings tears apart Grendel. He also knows that most of the lyrics the shaper is singing is false and untrue. However, the power of poetry makes Grendel want to believe whatever the Shaper is saying.

The Shaper is probably an accurate representation of the powerful story tellers before writing was widely used. All shapers probably twisted and changed the stories to over glorify man. It is interesting to note that the Shaper and dragon are like opposites. Even though they are opposites, they both are similar in that they have a significant influence on Grendel. The Shaper’s poetry makes Grendel want to believe him about everything. At the same time, the dragon hates the Shaper and refuses to listen to what Grendel has to say about him. In class we briefly discussed whether the shaper and dragon was good or evil. The general consensus was that people thought neither the dragon nor shaper was necessarily evil or good. However, I think that Shaper is evil and that the dragon is good. A main characteristic of the devil is twisting the truth so that it appears to be true but in reality isn’t. The shaper fits this description perfectly. On the other hand, the dragon seemed to be almost like a God figure to me. His deep voice and large body as well as his ability to see the future, past, and present make him seem omnipotent. It is ironic to note that the dragon is in a body shaped like a serpent. A serpent in literature usually represents a devil but I think in this case it doesn’t necessarily imply that the dragon is evil. I don’t know. Grendel makes my head hurt.

Everything

The third and final volume of Pride and Prejudice served as a dénouement of the novel. Both the couples involving Jane, Elizabeth, Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Bingley became married. The happy ending really shocked me. Up until this novel, the novels that we have been covering in AP Lit like All the Kings Men and Tess of the d’Urbervilles all had tragic endings. Thus, I always thought that an important trait of a true work of literature is a depressing or tragic ending. Pride and Prejudice has made me realize that a true work of literature may or may not have a depressing ending.
I found that Jane Austen left the majority of development part of Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship until this last volume. In fact, Austen really didn’t develop Mr. Darcy until this last volume either. Throughout the first two volumes, the readers were under the false impression that Mr. Darcy was an arrogant and cold person. However, the Mr. Darcy in the last volume was shockingly different. He was warm and compassionate. He shed his arrogant image and became someone that seemed like a “true” gentleman. And it is with Elizabeth’s realization of Mr. Darcy’s true nature that makes her fall in love with him. The scene with both of them in the park is really memorable. When Mr. Darcy finally confronts Elizabeth of her feelings towards him, she is relieved that he has asked her this. With relief and joy, she states that her once animosity-feelings have all evaporated and that they have turned into love and affection. I believe that Jane Austen used both the couples to criticize society. During the time this book was written, people married not based on love but rather based on financial status. She is criticizing this practice by intentionally making the rather modest Bennett girls to marry into the upper social level hierarchy.
This week in AP Lit, we started to read the novel Grendel. Based on the epic poem Beowulf, Grendel is a novel that is cleverly written from Grendel’s point of view. There are many references of places in Beowulf throughout Grendel. For example, the tree in the middle of the lake where Grendel resides in Beowulf appears in Grendel as well. I believe that because we recently read Beowulf, we can understand and appreciate Grendel a lot more. These little references and intertextuality ties in with what Foster said in his novel How to Read Literature like a Professor. In other words, the reading of Beowulf enhances the text of Grendel.
My initial impression of Grendel was a bit peculiar. From Beowulf alone, I thought that Grendel was this demon like monster who was out to kill as many innocent human beings as possible. However, the initial description of Grendel in Grendel altered my view towards him. From the novel Grendel, it appeared that Grendel was a helpless monster who was rejected by society. And therefore had no choice but to kill the human beings. He realizes that this ideology is flawed, and he even calls his war with the humans “idiotic”. I’m excited to understand more about his character.

Beowulf

The hero Beowulf is a paradigm of archetypal heroes. He embodies all the warrior-hero like qualities: honor, bravery, physical prowess, etc. Like most other heroes, Beowulf has extraordinary strength and courage. These two qualities serve him well as he becomes renowned throughout all the lands of the Geats and Danes. The readers first witness his awesome strength and fighting prowess when he easily crushes Grendel. The amazing thing is, Grendel has successfully terrorized the Danes for twelve long years without facing any effective resistance. Because Grendel is described as an outcast by God, he represents Lucifer the fallen angel. It is also stated that Grendel is a descendent of Cain. In the wergild society, killing a kinsman is the worst possible sin. Death in this society is very objectively considered. A death is something that can be repaid with a man price or the opposing side’s blood. In essence, the satan is wreaking havoc on God’s people and they are helpless to do anything. This is where Beowulf steps in. He travels a long ways from Geatland and has come to seek fortune and fame by killing Beowulf. Beowulf’s military prowess is first shown as he easily crushes Grendel. He uses no weapons to fight this evil and strong monster. This act of bravery indicates that he has honor and self confidence. From the very beginning, Beowulf was not scared to fight Grendel. Instead, he was excited to prove his worth. Just as things to be restored to order, Grendel’s mother ravages the peaceful Herot. Herot is an interesting mead-hall. It is described as being marvelous and the greatest in the world. Herot represents God’s glory and can be seen as heaven. Thus, the attacks on Herot can be seen as attacks on heaven by devils. Beowulf then represents God’s angel that protects the house of the lord. In essence, God sends his angel (Beowulf) down to Grendel’s lair. Grendel’s layer is a hellish place that is deep underwaters. The surrounding atmosphere is very evil and dark. Being the hero that he is, Beowulf decides to go into her lair to kill her. This required massive courage as Beowulf would now be fighting an unfair battle because it is underground and there is no oxygen. Beowulf still finds a way to win. The manner in which he wins convinced me that Beowulf is favored by God. Beowulf almost gets lucky and finds a magical sword that severs the head of Grendel’s mother. He somehow defeats a powerful monster underwater with a magical sword that was conveninently found. It seems to me that Chuck Norris can be seen as the modern form of Beowulf. Beowulf’s heroic characteristics can be seen as the moral standards for the ancient wergild societies. In this sense, Beowulf is an epic poem by all means as the epic poem teaches the readers about the values of the wergild culture. Beowulf has achieved what he wanted dearly, fame.

pride and prejudice

As I was reading Pride and Prejudice, I began to think that Jane Austen is a social critic like Ibsen. I’m not sure if she can be classified as a social critic but I think there’s enough evidence in the book to support my claim. The concepts of entailment and marrying based on financial situations are criticized by Jane Austen. Jane Austen clearly ridicules the concept of entailment by highlighting Mr. Collin’s ridiculous nature. Due to the law of entailment during the time which the novel was written, the Bennett fortune and estate would not have been able to pass directly to the Bennett girls because of their gender. Mr. Collins suggest that he be the one who inherit the property and Mr. Bennett reluctantly agrees. It is clear as the novel progresses how outrageous Mr. Collins is. Although his male status should make him more “fit” than the Bennett girls to inherit the fortune, it is clear that any of the Bennett girls should inherit the fortune. Mr. Collins is portrayed in the book as such a ridiculous character so that the readers can realize that the concept of entailment is flawed. It should be the Bennet girls, not Mr. Collins who is more qualified to inherit the property. However, the concept of entailment prevents that from happening.
The idea that marriage should be based on financial situations was prevalent during the era in which this book was written. I believe that Jane Austen is against this idea as she uses Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. Their relationship starts as a bitter one. Mr. Darcy is pompous and arrogant in the beginning of the novel. His good looks and height are shadowed by his negative personality. At first, Mr. Darcy tries to pry away Mr. Bingley from Jane as he considers the Bennett household too poor to be a suitable match for his friend. However, as the novel progresses, Mr. Darcy starts to develop feelings for a common girl like Elizabeth. He starts to linger around her a lot and there are many instances where there is awkward silence between the two. Mr. Darcy eventually confesses his love to Elizabeth in a condescending way and Elizabeth becomes indignant. However, through his letter he wrote for Elizabeth, she forgives him. The readers then reazlize even an aristocrat like Mr. Darcy can change in the face of look and over come the financial barrier that seperates the two love birds. It is through the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth that Austen criticizes the concept of marrying based no financial situation instead of love. She is trying to create a model couple that marries based on love. In essence, the relationship between Mr. Collins and Charlotte is the foil to the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy

The Doll's House

The character Nora in the Doll House amuses me. She is a very deep character who is confusing to understand. To most people, Nora is just a childish woman who is the typical mother. She is beautiful and she knows this as well. She uses her beauty to act like a child so that she can get what she wants from Torvald. However, beneath her superficial surface lies a deeper side of her. During the play, it is revealed that she committed forgery to save her husband’s life. She borrowed a large sum of money from the bank by forging her father’s signature. Her action can be seen as both a noble and foolish one. Her desire to save her husband’s life at the cost of breaking the law can be seen as a loyal and passionate action. However, it is revealed in the play that at the time Nora borrowed the money, she did not know of the financial terms that were within the loan agreement. She had no idea that the money she borrowed would grow exponentially due to interests. In this financial sense, Nora can be seen as a childish and foolish character. Her complexion arises out of cases like this where her actions are ambiguous; whether the actions are noble or foolish.
Her husband Torvald is beginning to become too creepy for me. It seems like he is a demented character who treats Nora as a little doll he likes to play with. He does not genuinely love Nora and considers her his trophy. This view of her can be seen when at the dance party he made Nora perform the tarantulla dance. After she dazzled the crowd, he quickly departs with Nora despite her objections. Then he proceeds to say that if they lingered any more, the effect would wear up. His response reveals the fact that Torvald’s male dominance is expressed through him showing his trophy wife Nora to the public. He even goes on to claim that Nora is his greatest prize. In essence, Torvald does not consider Nora as even a human being let alone his love. Nora is like a doll he loves to play with. He can dress her in anything he wants, play with her whenever he wants, and show off his pretty doll to the public. The initially humorous conversation between Torvald and Nora is definitely becoming twisted and demented now. I initially thought that the reason why they talked to each other in such a bubbly and superficial way was because of the fact that they were in the puppy dog love stage in their relationship. But it is clear that this is not the case and that the reason is something much more demented. Torvald’s desire to make Nora his Barbie doll is the real reason why they talk to each other in such a superficial fashion. I become creeped out whenever they talk now because I realize that Torvald is twisted in the brain.

ATKM Tragedy

The novel All the Kings Men like many other literature works is tragic. I’m going to discuss what makes the novel so tragic. The main reason why the novel is tragic is because of the fact Willie appeared to be on a path of redemption. The novel started with Willie being obsessed with justice. He also had a genuine desire to help the common people. He spent many sleepless nights preparing speeches that actually contained a lot of information that could help people. Although his public speaking skills were painfully abysmal, his sincerity shone through to the public. People still came to his speeches and supported him even though he was a terrible speaker. The moment he finds out that he was never going to be the governor, he becomes blind to everything except his political career. This blindness contorts Willie into a power-hungry monster who uses anything to get what he wants. He now uses corrupted political methods such as black mailing to control his opponents and get what he wants. Unfortunately, Willie’s corrupted ways get him what he wants every time. Believing in his corrupted ways, he fails to realize what he’s doing is set on a path of destruction. Willie’s blindness causes him to neglect his fatherly duties as Tom becomes an arrogant snob who thinks that no one can tell him what to do. Willie is finally made aware of his blindness after Tom gets seriously injured during a football game. Willie symbolically says he can change a lot of things. Here, he is referring to his life and how he used corruption to get what he wanted. Willie appears to be on a path of redemption for a brief period of time. He tells Tiny Duffy to stop the contract with Larson because it’s corrupted. He even attempts to go back to Lucy. As things are turning for the better, the ultimate tragedy strikes him. Ironically, Adam Stanton believed that he got the director job at the new hospital because his sister had been sleeping with Willie. In reality, this was not the case as Willie really believed that Adam would be the best person to be entrusted with the new hospital. Not knowing this, Adam guns down Willie and Willie dies in the hospital a couple days later. The tragic nature of this novel arises from uncertainty. Readers do not know what would have happened had Willie not been murdered. Perhaps he would have gotten back with Lucy and changed his political career around so he never used corruption. On top of all this, he could’ve helped the common people through legitimate ways. All in all, he could have been remembered as a great political figure who had a mysterious desire to help the common folks. Instead, the readers are left to wonder at what Willie could have done. And therein lies the true tragic nature of this novel.

Blindness in Literature

I will be examining the role of blindness in literature. Blindness in literature is usually figurative and not literal. Most characters that are afflicted with blindness suffer from not literal blindness where they can’t see anything but figurative blindness. Figurative blindness refers to blindness that is not literal. For example, Willie Starks in All the Kings Men is figuratively blind as he is blinded by his political ambitions. Figurative blindness is usually caused by some aspect of a character’s life that is so overwhelming and important that it blocks out everything else. Figurative blindness usually leads to the downfall of the characters who are afflicted with it. Because this figurative blindness is overwhelming and causes a character to block out everything else, it is usually very destructive. The destructive nature of figurative blindness is a direct consequence of the fact that a character afflicted with blindness can only think and “see” the overwhelming thing whatever it is. Because of this, the character will ignore all other important aspects of his life. Let’s examine the case with Angel Clare. Angel’s blindness was brought on by Tess’s revelation of her past with Alec and her child Sorrow. Her past is so devastating to Angel that he becomes blinded to her love towards him. Prior to Tess’s confession, Angel and Tess are madly in love with each other. Thinking that love is blind, Angel rejects Tess’s attempts to reveal her past before they became married. However, Tess’s confession disrupts the picture-perfect love between Angel and Tess by forming a barrier that blinds Angel from realizing Tess’s love towards him. In his blind nature, he basically abandons Tess and travels to South America to try to set up a farm for three years. After three years of hard labor, he finally decides to return home. In the meantime, these three years were unbearably painful to Tess. Facing much hardship and not being able to communicate with Angel, she is convinced by Alec that Angel has abandoned her. With Alec’s constant temptations, Tess finally succumbs and reluctantly marries Alec. It is important to understand that it was Angel’s blindness that causes this. In his absence, Tess is too prideful to ask his family for help and her letters aren’t being replied by Alec. Her hardships and lack of communication with Angel are direct causes for Tess finally marrying Alec. Angel finally realizes how much Tess has gone through in his absence because he finds out that she never asked for help from his family. Angel’s realization effectively removes the blindness that has afflicted Angel. He sets out on a desperate search for Tess. Unfortunately, he finds out that she has married Alec and is distraught after their brief but emotional conversation. After Angel leaves with a heavy heart, Tess kills Alec out of pure hatred for deceiving her. Tess and Angel happily reunite. However, the figurative blindness has already ruined the love between Tess and Angel as Tess gets captured and hanged by the townspeople.

Loneliness

The story loneliness is about a man named Enoch Robinson. Enoch is mentally unstable and very unfortunate. Loneliness begins with a brief description of Enoch’s childhood. Although it is easy to pass over his childhood, his childhood must be carefully examined as it contains many clues about figuring out Enoch Robinson as a person. The earlier parts of the story stated that Robinson grew up in a barn that had windows that were never open. The windows serve as a medium for Enoch and the real world. Because the windows are shut, Enoch is lonely and cut off from the real world. He is not able to successfully develop his real world and people skills. This translated into his high school life as Enoch was described to be a very timid and silent high school student. As life went on, Enoch decided he wanted to pursue art so he enrolled in a French art school. He also started hanging out with the artist group. When the artists convened and discussed art, Enoch was unable to. The story says that Enoch was simply too excited to get his words out. But he had this burning desire to speak and voice his opinions to these artists. After awhile, Enoch became sick of the fact that he couldn’t talk and express his views. Perhaps this is the precise reason for Enoch creating imaginary people. He started to create imaginary friends who would be completely understanding of Enoch. Among his imaginary friends, Enoch had everything he wished for. He could now be his egotistical child self and boss all of his imaginary friends around. He would have this “absurd air of importance”. This air of importance is what he was missing all his life. From his childhood to his coming of age, he never experienced what it was like to be important and to be heard. This changed once Enoch started creating imaginary friends. He was genuinely happy and satisfied with them because he finally felt what it was like to be important. Satisfaction led him to believe that he didn’t need anyone else in his world so he stopped hanging out with the artists and inviting them over to have art discussions. In his own world, Enoch was the all-important figure he wanted to be in real life. But happiness can only be temporarily forced. Sooner or later, something had to shatter his world. One day, a woman comes to his apartment where Enoch decides to tell her everything. This obviously included his imaginary friends. He became extremely angry with her because he realized that she wasn’t like his imaginary friends where they could be controlled at will and she couldn’t. This must have been a harsh reminder for Enoch as all his imaginary friends followed the woman when she left his apartment. His imaginary friends never came back and that put an abrupt end to Enoch’s perfect world where he reigned supreme. He then went back to Winesburg as an old and defeated man.

Grotesques

Winesburg, Ohio can be classified as a collection of short stories. The novel takes place in the fictional town in Ohio called Winesburg. The story doesn’t really have a main character. The closest character that resembles a main character is George Willard. George Willard is a reporter for a local newspaper. The novel begins with a prologue where an unnamed man is obsessed with his theory of grotesques. As he is sleeping, he sees everyone that he has ever met as grotesques in his dreams. After waking up from this sleep, this man writes down everything he saw and rambles on for hundreds of pages in a book called The Book of Grotesques. The old man claims that there are numerous “beautiful” truths in this world and that all of them are valid. The problem arises when someone tries to live by only one truth. This makes them distorted and transforms them into grotesques. This prologue is what connects all the different stories in the novel even though the stories sometimes seem to have no relation to each other. Every single story in the novel revolves around a character who is a grotesque because they only believe in one truth. An example is the story revolving around Wash Williams. A fat and unattractive man, he tells George of his past. He claims that he was handsome and lean in the old days when he was married to his wife. But he found out that she was cheating on him so he left her and went to a different town. One day, his mother in law invited both him and her daughter to her house. Thinking that his wife was going to apologize, he reluctantly decided to go to his mother in law’s house. When he was there, he found out that his wife and her mother conceived a despicable plan of trying to make him forgive his wife by using sex as a tool. This made him infuriated as he then believed that all women were despicable. From that moment on, he referred to all women as “bitches”. This is the one “truth” that he decided to believe in and it made him into a grotesque as he became obese and anti social. But let’s examine the “truth” that the unnamed author talks about in the prologue. He claims that there are many different truths that are all legitimate and people only become grotesques if and only if they only believe in one truth.  Does that mean if Wash had believed in another truth in conjunction with the one that claims all women are despicable he would have been not become a grotesque? I think that the definition of truth that is described in the prologue is too vague to determine the answer to this question. What happens if Wash Williams believes in two completely different but both “negative” truths?  In my opinion, Wash Williams would have still become a grotesque even if the truths were completely different. 

Martin and Pangloss

Voltaire uses foil characters in Candide as a tool to emphasize his theme. I will take a look at the foil characters Pangloss and Martin in this novel. These two characters couldn’t be more different. If Pangloss was north, Martin would be south. They are polar opposites. Pangloss is so confident in his optimism theory which states that this world is the best of all possible worlds while Martin’s personal experiences convinced him that this world is only filled with evil. Their opposite philosophies can both be traced back to each character’s history. Pangloss was a mentor for the noble in a German castle. The nobles really did enjoy a sheltered life filled with luxury and lavishness. Enjoying the best foods, services, and respect, the nobles perhaps might have a life that is only possible in the best of all possible worlds. As a direct observer to this kind of lifestyle, Pangloss started to form his optimism theory stating that this is the best of all possible worlds. On the other hand, Martin’s tragic past shaped his pessimistic philosophy. His side of the story is understandable as well. He was robbed by his wife and even beaten by his own son. On top of all this, he was even persecuted by the church. Based on his life, he confidently confided in his pessimism theory. Unlike all the other characters in the novel, Martin is actually somewhat believable because he is highly doubtful of everything. This pessimism and doubtful-nature allows him to see through the Parisian con artists and help Candide out. He is also more intellectual and realistic than let’s say a character like Pangloss. However, he’s not completely believable either because his pessimism theory is too extreme. For example, he inaccurately predicts Cacambo’s nature and behavior. When Candide entrusts his loyal side kick Cacambo with the precious stones, Martin told Candide that Cacambo would run away with the money and never come back. His rationale can be justified by his past. If his own wife could rob him, then someone unrelated could definitely rob him as well. However, Martin had miscalculated Cacambo’s loyalty. Cacambo ends up returning to Candide with all the gold. Although the character Martin has flaws, his voice reflects that of Voltaire the most. Voltaire was known for his pessimistic nature. Thus, Voltaire uses Martin as a means to which he can state his own views and philosophies. Even though Martin acts as a voice medium for Voltaire, both Martin’s extreme pessimism and Pangloss’s extreme optimism are both flawed. When Pangloss and Martin are juxtaposed, the flaws of both philosophies come into light as one is too pessimistic and the other is too optimistic. In the conclusion of the novel, Candide realizes that wondering about which philosophy governs life is a waste and that people should “cultivate the garden” which means that they should ignore the philosophies and just live their lives.

Candide

Candide is a satirical social commentary Voltaire used to voice his views in the 18th century. Voltaire wrote this book during the Age of Enlightenment. Throughout the novel, Voltaire satirizes many aspects of European life during this era through the naïve and simple protagonist Candide and his ever optimistic mentor Pangloss. From religion to the aristocracy, Voltaire takes a stab at various aspects of medieval European life. He also indirectly states that life in 18th century Europe was filled with corruption and flaws. The novel starts out with Candide being banned from the castle after kissing Cunegonde. Then the novel erratically moves forward with different tragic stories. Candide is then forced into military service and almost dies as a result of attempted escape. He then reunites with his former mentor Pangloss. Pangloss then tells Candide of the ensuing events after his departure. Then they travel to Lisbon and the city is devastated by fire, earthquake, and tsunamis. This event was a mirror image of the real 1755 Lisbon earthquake. This event nearly wiped out the entire city as this earthquake was one of the deadliest earthquakes ever. After this destructive earthquake shattered the city, Pangloss still maintained his optimism theory that this world is the best of all worlds. At this point in the novel, Candide is still naïve enough to believe in Pangloss’s theory. However, he slowly begins to realize that Pangloss’s theory is flawed as he experiences many more tragic events. I think that Pangloss represents the overly optimistic critics Voltaire faced during his lifetime while Candide represents the immature and naïve common people. An important philosophy Pangloss believes is that all the events in this world happen for the best outcome. On the surface, it seems like this philosophy only refers to this world being the best of all worlds. However, it has a deeper meaning that free will is not an absolute necessity since all the events in this world have to occur for the best outcome. Voltaire is strongly opposed to this idea as he believes that human free will is an absolute necessity. He conveys his views through Candide as he rejects Pangloss’s overly optimistic theory at the end of the novel. Being as naïve as he is, Candide somehow believed in this optimistic theory throughout the novel even though he directly witnessed thousands of men needlessly dying during war, villages getting slaughtered, women being constantly raped, and natural disaster seeming to strike at every opportunity it gets. He finally begins to change his views and reject this silly optimism theory after stumbling onto El Dorado. Because El Dorado is a utopia where everything is perfect, Candide directly sees that Pangloss’s optimism theory only applies within a utopia like El Dorado. Now that he has seen a perfect world, he can now compare the real world to it and realizes that Pangloss’s theory can not be applied to the outside world. At the very end of the novel, Candide states that “we must cultivate our garden.” This means that he believes people shouldn’t believe in any single philosophy that governs the universe and life but instead they should try to find out on their own.

All the Kings Men

The character Jack in this novel is a troubled man who seems to always want to escape reality. He's like a person who is trapped in his past and doesn't want to get out. Perhaps the present is too painful and unplesant or the past is too impactful. Whatever it is, he's a character who is living in the past. He is infatuated with sleep as he uses sleep as one way to escape the present. This is apparent as he always talks about his dreams. This relates to the Great Sleep as sleep is used to escape responsibilty and reality. The Great Sleep talks about dreaming of sleep and just waking up to sleep again. This unhealthy infatuation with sleep results from Jack's desire to constantly escape reality. Similiar to the Great Sleep, Jack's belief in the Great Twitch also shows his desire to escape reality. When Jack discovers that Anne, the love of his life, has been having an affair with Willie, he suddenly flees to California. Their affair was so unexpected that it devastated Jack. Anne had been a symbol of his pleaseant past and by stripping away this link to his past, the pain was unberable. Although Jack ended up marrying Lois, he still never got over his love for Anne. He stated in the book that he married Lois just for her looks and once he started to analyze her as a person, he became disgusthed. Fleeing to California is another way Jack is attempting to escape reality as the reality is too miserable and painful. During this journey, there are allusions made to Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the American belief that Americans were destined to conquer and rule all of America during the 18th century. During the era when Manifest Destiny was popular, Americans had not conquered the western part of America so Jack's escape to the west is definitely an allusion to Manifest Destiny. Symbolically, he was conquering the west. Also this journey leads Jack to believe in the Great Twitch. On the way back from Califronia, he picks up a man who has a twitch in his eye. This leads Jack to conclude that life is like an involutary twitch. Basically, the Great Twitch is the belief that all the things in life are uncontrollable and are similiar to involunatry twitches. One can furthur conclude that because life is uncontrollable, life is without purpose. In essence, life is predetermined and one can not control the outcome of his or her life. This theory allows Jack to escape reality because by believing in the Great Twitch, he technically had no control over the outcome of his relationship with Anne. Also, he had no control over Anne having an affair with his boss and that this was all fate. This ideology allowed him to cope with reality in a sense although he was technically escaping reality. In essence, the Great Twitch ideology allowed Jack to avoid all blame and guilt as he believed that he had no control over what was going on. This is a dangerous ideology because it allows one to avoid guilt and blame while they could've actually controlled the outcome.

Tess of the D'urbervilles

As I read the novel Tess of the D'urbervilles, I slowly realized the theme that was encompassing all the events that had occured in the novel. The theme was that love is not blind in the face of extreme tragedy. Although Tess and Angel had sincerely become madly in love, Tess's tragic past essentially shattered their love. Her tragic past also reminds us, as the readers, of the fact that no one can really escape their pasts. Even though Tess had tried on numerous occasions to tell Angel of her tragic past, he had refused to hear her saying that whatever it is he could forgive and forget. She even decided to put a note underneath his door that explained her past but I guess it was fate that he didn't get to read the note. Had he just read that note or allowed Tess to share her past, they might've not become married and their situation wouldn't have been so tragic. Whatever it was that prevented Angel from hearing about Tess's past, he was so confident that their love could overcome anything. This was clearly not the case as once Angel actually heard about Tess's past, he became distraught. It was her past that ultimatley led to Tess's arrest and death at the conclusion of the novel. If love was really blind, Angel should've been able to disregard and forget her past but it was so overwhelming and extremely tragic that it caused him to leave Tess and be alone for a couple years. The direct consequence of Angel's actions was Tess reluctantly becoming married to Alec after he constantly tempted her with financial support. During Angel's absence, Tess desperatley pleaded to Angel to forgive her and expressed her love towards him through her letters. We as the readers find out later that Angel had never gotten them and it only adds more to the tragedy. When Angel finally returns home and finds out that Tess was too proud and stubborn to ask for financial help from his family, he realizes the hardships Tess must've faced while he was abroad. He immediatley embarks on a journey to find Tess and when he does it's already too late. Once Tess sees Angel, her long hibernated love is rejuvenated and this ultimately causes her to kill Alec and run away. However, the townspeople find both of them in the end when all seems to be happy and Tess is hanged. This shows that love is not blind and can "expire". This story's tragic nature is only enhanced by the fact that both Angel and Tess at one time thought love is blind. They both find out the hard way and they both pay a heavy cost. This theme applies to life as well. Love isn't really blind and love can disintegrate because of someone's past. Even if both parties involved in a love affair sincerely believe they can overcome the other person's flaws and pasts, if the flaw or past is too overwhelming then the love disintegrates. This is the realistic view on love the author is trying to portray throughout this novel.