Blog #9: Literary Criticism PowerPoint

Blog #8: Summer Reading Creative Project

Text: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient

Essence: A change in one’s values forces a change in what he/she is willing to sacrifice.

Brief Summary of Text: The book follows the stories of four unlike people living inside an Italian villa towards the end of World War II. The book centers upon the story of an unrecognizable burn victim who is assumed to be English. However, after slowly revealing his past he turns out to be of Hungarian origin. His story is a “blank page” at first, as Hana, Kip, and Caravaggio reflect their own thoughts upon him. But the English Patient eventually recalls his memories and reveals his real name to be Almásy, uncovering every detail of his past including how he falls in love with Katherine, her husband’s death, her death, and his enduring belief that nations are useless entities and that love can take people to different times and places.

AP Prompt (2014): It has often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice. Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the work as a whole.

Thesis which addresses the prompt: In Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, László Almásy makes significant sacrifices for his personal value for individualism as he favors freedom by staying in the desert and holds no value for national identity; the purity that he finds in the desert, however, is clouded by the entrance of temptation in the form of Katherine Clifton, which ultimately forces him to sacrifice his greatest personal value of breaching national ties.

Iceberg View of Culture: Literature is the surface culture that is highlighted in The English Patient. Literature has the ability to connect the past to the present. Hana reads to Almásy to keep him preoccupied in present-day life, but literature also allows him to feel the love that he had for Katherine and his memories of his work in the desert in Cairo. For the characters in this novel, time and place play cannot inhibit the eternal love that they have for their loved ones, and through the medium of literature, they are able to transcend all obstacles: even death. For Almásy, The Histories by Herodotus is literature that allows him to connect to people and feelings that are now dead or gone, things that can only be reached through books.

One of the most memorable moments in the novel is when Katherine tells the story of the Lydian King Candaules showing off his wife’s beauty to his lieutenant Gyges, and Gyges killing the king to take the throne and the queen for himself. The telling of this story itself causes Almásy to be seduced by Katherine. This story parallels the love triangle between Almásy, Katherine, and Mr. Clifton. This scene reiterates the power that literature has to strengthen human connections beyond the story that is being told. There is a lot of nonverbal communication that occurs when it comes to the intimacy and the intensity that builds between Almásy and Katherine. The silence and their everlasting gaze exemplify their feelings for one another. Almásy reflects on this when he says, “All these years I have been trying to unearth what she was handing me with that look…I think she was studying me” (144). Of course, facial expression, body language, and tone of voice also imply Katherine’s motives to be rather seductive in nature. The details of nonverbal communication illustrate the nuanced suggestions that Katherine makes while telling the story.

The deeper implications of Katherine’s reading of the story are: preferences for competition or cooperation, concept of past and future, and the concept of self.  As stated earlier, literature has the ability to allow people to feel connected regardless of time and place. Discernibly, Almásy’s response to Katherine’s story will either result in competition or cooperation with Mr. Clifton. In this case the result is definitely competition, as Mr. Clifton ultimately goes mad and attempts to murder, but dies in the process. Self-concept is a psychological concept that is especially unique for Almásy in this novel. He originally stays in the desert to maintain lucidity, but this is changed dramatically by his lose of rationality as he becomes so infatuated with Katherine that he cannot control himself. Almásy addresses his feelings as she tells the story, he states, “That night I fell in love with her voice. Only her voice. I wanted to hear nothing more" (145).

Creative Project & Explanation: In Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, László Almásy, a man who is guilty of reprehensible betrayals, makes significant sacrifices for his personal value for individualism as he favors freedom by staying in the desert and holds no values for national identity; the purity that he finds in the desert, however, is clouded by the entrance of temptation in the form of Katherine Clifton, which ultimately forces him to sacrifice his personal value of breaching national ties.

The Left Side of the Mask: The image of the desert contains many symbolic meanings. ‎From a biblical point of view, the desert is related to a place of cleansing. God took many occasions to send groups of Jews and other religious groups into the desert for cleansing prior to sending them to the "promised land". Most notably, the Jews (led by Moses) coming out of exile in Egypt and sending Jesus into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights for the cleansing of his soul and temptation from the Devil. The general significance of the arid landscape of the desert is that it represents purity and a place free from temptation, with no distractions. The only thing that is on the image of the desert is the silhouette of a single person, which represents Almásy’s clarity with only his favorite book (Herodotus) by his side. All focus is on survival rather than satisfying personal needs. For Almásy specifically, the desert is a place where national identity is extraneous, allowing him to redefine himself freely. The irony in all this lays in Katherine, who embodies temptation, but travels to the desert—a place of spiritual cleansing.  The dove holding the olive branch in the sky (a general peace symbol) represents his freedom outside of his Hungarian origin.

The Right side of the Mask: The circular image is one of King Candaules of Lydia who is letting Gyges see his wife naked. Gyges is shot with Cupid’s arrow in this image as he has fallen in love with the queen through the mere display of her beauty. This image is associated with blindness and bewilderment through the thick black swirls around the right temple of the mask. This detail symbolizes Almásy being clouded by the temptation of Katherine. The two quotes are words spoken by Candaules’ wife, which allude to the death and destruction that Almásy and Katherine also cause through their relationship.

The backside of the mask is divided into two halves like the front. Directly behind the left side with the desert, the mask is blank because Almásy is not concealing anything significant about himself when he is solely invested in his work in the desert. Directly behind the right side with the black swirls, there is a skull as well as a World War II map of Hungary, which represents the repercussions of his relationship with Katherine. He must conceal the death and destruction that his iniquitous relationship with Katherine causes and also his Hungarian background that is eventually revealed. This is the sacrifice that Almásy makes for Katherine; he sacrifices upholding his value of breaking national ties. Essentially, the left side of the mask represents who Almásy was before he met Katherine and the right side of the mask (as well as what is behind it) represents who he is after he meets Katherine. 

Blog #7: Summer Reading Comparison/Contrast Paper

Summer Reading: The Five Elements of Mis En Scene in "The Namesake"

Settings and Props: The opening scene of the film is set in the hustle and bustle of the Calcutta train station; a railway porter is carrying a large suitcase (and larger bundle is stacked on top of it) over his head that reads “A. Ganguli” and “Calcutta” in smaller letters underneath of it.  Once inside the train, the interior of the train appears old and worn; the seats are wooden. Ashoke is seen placing his four-layer tiffin carrier in the bunk above. The woman seated next to him is fanning herself with a hand fan (conveys an uncomfortable environment with the heat and mugginess) and her daughter holds a porcelain doll. Ghosh takes out a bottle of cologne and carelessly puts some one his neck. Ashoke is then seen holding a tattered copy of The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol and the woman is reading as well as Ghosh engages in conversation with Ashoke. There are short nature shots of the rural land that the train passes by. Later on Ghosh is carrying a toothbrush and a washcloth as he makes his way back to his seat. He is later seen holding a flask and takes a big drink out of it. When the accident occurs we see a light flashing, Ghosh’s flask, and belongings tumbling down.

Costume, Hair, and Makeup: All the railway porters are dressed in red tunics and light colored turbans. Everyone else including Ashoke is dressed in casual clothing. On the train, the woman seated by Ashoke is wearing a red sari with yellow, brown, and light colored stripe and Ghosh is wearing business casual clothing (and some wire-rimmed glasses)—signifying his status as a businessman. The woman is wearing a modest amount of jewelry (a single bangle, a watch, and a few rings) and minimal makeup. Ashoke appears to be dressing for comfort as his shirt and trousers are loose fitting and made of a soft fabric. Ghosh, although of a higher status, does not appear to be concerned with his appearance as he undresses to his undershirt and some loose fitting pants later on in the evening revealing his potbelly.

Facial Expressions and Body Language: Ashoke holds a mild facial expression for the most part, however, at some points, he faintly laughs in response to Ghosh’s questions and remarks. The woman seated next to Ashoke has a blank expression (as she puts her hand on her daughter’s shoulder, this is the intimate zone reserved for family) probably due to her daughter’s feelings. Her daughter is lying down with her head rested on her mother’s lap and her expression conveys boredom, tiredness, and despondency. Ashoke sits upright and cross-legged at first as he is reading his book, but lies down on his side later on in the evening to get more comfortable. Ghosh and Ashoke speak rather loudly because the sound of the train is overwhelming. Later on in the evening, Ghosh leans in closer as he talks to Ashoke (when Ashoke is lying down) and uses his hands as he talks (widening the space between his hands as he talks about England and America). As he says, “it was like a dream” he turns his head off into the distance and the audience sees a glimmer of light in his eyes, appearing dazed by his memories. He smiles occasionally as he speaks and Ashoke looks at him in astonishment. As he says “to each his own” he raises his flask to show courtesy. As the accident occurs, everyone is screaming and struggling to escape, thrashing and flaying their bodies.

Lighting and Color: The lighting used is low-key lighting as the entire clip consists of Ashoke’s flashback to a horrible accident.  The lighting becomes even darker as night falls (there is sharp contrast between light and dark areas), foreshadowing the impending accident.  As the accident occurs, the lights flash and chaos ensues, then suddenly, there is silence and the scene cuts to black signifying the end of the flashback.

Positioning of Characters/Objects within the Frame: The opening scene is a point of view shot from Ashoke’s view as he is walking in the crowded train station with the porter walks in front of him, holding his luggage. Then there is a medium shot of Ashoke to show his struggle to makes his way around the huge crowd that surrounds him. Throughout the train ride, there are frequent long shots of the rural land that the train is passing through. Inside the train, the audience sees a medium shot of the seating area and then a subsequent close up of the little girl who is falling asleep. During the dialogue between Ghosh and Ashoke, a combination of medium and close up shots are used. A medium shot interrupts the scene as Ghosh as is walking through the aisle on the train (probably making his way back from the bathroom). A shot of a different surrounding outside is seen, as the train is moving quickly, the lights outside are flashing by in the night. There are frequent over-the-shoulder shots of Ashoke during his conversation with Ghosh. As the accident occurs, the camera switches angles multiple time from close ups of the ceiling light, to Ghosh’s flask, to medium shots of Ghosh, and Ashoke. The swift changes between angles as the train is shaking feverishly helps capture all the chaos.

Summer Reading: Elements of Style Chart

Blog #6: "Surroundings" 2012 Free Response Essay & Reflection

In the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the character of Holden is surrounded by the physical setting of a large urban city, where he surrounded by people, however, his personal experience with death makes him feel ironically alienated as he feels conflicted about maturity and adulthood.

In the novel, it is evident that Holden has many people in his life that want to support him, but he rejects everyone time after time. His behavior is, in part, a result of his brother, Allie’s, death. More importantly, it is from the moment that he leaves his boarding school a few days before he’s about to get expelled, that initiates his downward spiral into his psychological break down. He wanders around New York City, a city full of crime and corruption, for many days. In the course of these few days, he tries to make connections with old friends, ex-girlfriends, and other adults that he trusts. Unfortunately, he is unable to trust anyone and sees them all as “phonies”. Holden uses this word frequently, he claims that the world is full of deception, but really he is uses this word as an excuse to prematurely judge those who show maturity. He refuses to apply himself in school and refuses maturity in spite of the adults that have tried to counsel him. In this case, it is clear that his physical surroundings and cultural surroundings (in that people expect a boy of his age to be able to work towards a better future) are what is further deteriorating his situation and making him feel alienated.

At one point in the story, Holden tries to lose his virginity while he is staying at a hotel in the city. He clearly wants to experience this aspect maturity, but ultimately rejects the prostitute that he pays for. The man who found Holden the prostitute says that it will only cost five dollars, but the prostitute demands for ten dollars. Holden only gives her five because that is not what the man told him. The man and the prostitute end up storming into his room and the man beats him until Holden reluctantly gives him the money. The irony lies in Holden’s reaction to all this, he is so upset that he is in tears, not because he of the incident itself, but because the man had lied to him. This scene shows Holden’s innocence as he still expects good out of people. Later on, when Holden is as the Natural Museum of History to see his young sister, he sees the words “F*** you” written on the walls. He is extremely angered by this as young kids visit the museum frequently; he wipes it off the wall. This evidence of a tainted world that exists in the presence of innocent children disgusts Holden and adds to his hatred towards adulthood.

The most memorable moment in this novel is when Holden describes to his younger sister the only job that he would be happy doing in this world. He describes a rye field on the edge of a cliff full of young children running around, and his job is to catch them before they fall off. The children falling off the cliff symbolizes the loss of innocence, and Holden’s wish to catch them symbolizes his want to protect the children from the corruption of the outside world. This explains why he is so angered by the graffiti that he sees earlier. Essentially, Holden refuses to apply himself in almost all aspects of his life because his experiences in his surroundings (cultural and physical) hold evidence to dishonesty and evil that he associates with adulthood, therefore, he refuses to accept maturity. Ultimately, the more adults (and people who exept maturity) try to understand Holden, the more he rejects them as he becomes more suspicious of their motives; he tries to perserve childhood innocence and guard the naïve from the adult world.

Reflection:

After experiencing both the prose passage and poetry essays, I felt more relaxed writing the free response essay because it felt like there were no limits or boundaries, allowing a formulation of an unique answer instead of fulfilling the requirements from a selection of possible answers. As a result, this essay was more fully developed than my other essays and I was able to extract a more thorough analysis. Some of the highlights of my essay include: the reference in the last paragraph to the title of the novel in order to explain the metaphor of Holden’s dream to be “the catcher in the rye”, connecting my analysis to the larger thematic implications such as the inevitability of adulthood and Holden’s desire to safeguard the innocent youth from a dark world, the irony in that Holden is surrounded by human presence but feels alienated at the same time, and the irony in that Holden holds a cynical view of the “phonies” but also does not expect to be lied to as the man did from the hotel (regarding the cost of the prostitute). Overall, I articulated how Holden’s surroundings change his “psychological and moral traits and illuminated the meaning of the work as a whole”. In addition, I think that my well-developed analysis indicates that I would have scored a seven rather than a six.

Despite my success in answering the prompt and extending it further to the societal and thematic effects, my essay lacked the “apt and specific textual support” and the display of “more effective control of language”. Adding a few more quotes (I only state one) would have allowed my evidence to seem more focused and pertinent rather than rambling on, summarizing the piece. I also lacked the sophisticated discourse structure and smooth transitions that are found in the nine to eight range essay; my points are related, but the evidence is not fluidly connected.

In order to improve in the future my first goal would be to briefly outline my essay prior to writing it. I will try to organize my evidence in a particular way so that it flows (at least chronologically) and shows elevated writing ability through its smoothness. My second goal would be to study and review more work form the literary canon as I had trouble recalling the details from The Catcher and the Rye. Although it is one of my favorite pieces of work, I could not recall the specific names of the minor characters so I had no choice, but to use generalized titles like “the man from the hotel” and “the prostitute”. This knowledge will allow to me to be able to find “apt and specific textual support”.

My third and final goal would be asking myself the following guiding questions (which I did happen to address in my essay): Which piece of work am I familiar with enough to answer the prompt and be able to draw specific pieces of evidence from? What are the literal and figurative effects of the topic of the essay on the character(s)? How do these effects extend to society and the overall theme(s) of the work? 

Blog #5: "Thou Blind Man's Mark" Essay & Reflection

In Sir Philip Sidney’s poem, “Thou Blind Man’s Mark”, Sidney portrays a man who obsesses over desire, but holds an irritated and unfulfilled attitude towards it, viewing the destruction of desire to be a well-deserved compensation; this attitude is articulated through parallel structure, anaphora, and repetition.

The first line of the poem refers to the object of the narrator’s desire as it is referred to as “Thou blind man’s mark, thou fool’s self-chosen snare”. The author purposely chooses to use “blind man” and “fool” to exaggerate the type of man who goes after desire, there is a bitter tone in that the author views this person as imprudent and so oblivious that he may as well be blind. The use of the word “snare” helps capture the predatory nature of catching desire. The frustration that the narrator has with desire is evident in his diction as he calls the thing that he desires the “Band of all evils, cradle of causeless care”. The alliteration with the “c” consonants adds to his exasperation with the senselessness of the characteristics of what (or the actions of whom) he desires. Repetition with words such as “desire” and “too long” reiterates the narrator’s unsatisfied feeling towards his situation.

Towards the end of the poem, Sidney begins to use an anaphora by staring each line with “In vain thou”, which basically implies the words to no purpose or unsuccessfully. The repeated uttering of the word “vain” shows the narrator’s now shifting attitude that his efforts to seek desire have served no purpose as he is unsuccessful time after time.  Beginning in the third to last line to the end of the poem, the audience sees a more firm and consistent attitude toward desire. The narrator believes that he has taken a benefit out of this experience through learning a lesson in the line, “For virtue hath this better lesson taught—“, and the dash puts an additional emphasis on the two lines following it. These final two lines conclude his complex attitude toward desire by pointing out that he has earned himself the right to seek his only repayment, which is to destroy desire.

Throughout the entire poem, Sidney uses poetic devices to capture the narrator’s conflicting view towards desire in that he is obsessed but simultaneously frustrated and exhausted from aspiring towards it. The author ends the poem with what the narrator views as his only repayment which is to destroy the thing that he has been so infatuated over, the thing that he digresses about for the entire length of the poem. The ending is very cynical and ironic.

Reflection:

The mere act of thinking about writing the poetry essay felt extremely taxing and strenuous. I was dreading it. It felt like a looming storm that would either hit me head on or pass me by completely. Another words, I thought I would both find the complexity and completely understand how the poetic devices convey the attitude of the speaker or completely misinterpret the poem and lack any sort of nuanced understanding. In reality, after “norming” the sample essays and discussing them in class, my essay can only be regarded as mediocre at best. The complexity, however, wasn’t completely disregarded. I made a conscious effort to address it in my essay, for instance, in the last paragraph I write, “The author ends the poem with what the narrator views as his only repayment which is to destroy the thing that he has been so infatuated over, the thing that he digresses about for the entire length of the poem. The ending is very cynical and ironic”. There is a feeling of contradictory attitudes from the narrator in my explanation, which addresses the complexity. The other aspects that strengthened my essay were identifying the correct connotation of the word “vain” as futile or pointless as well as identifying the significance of the alliteration, repetition, parallel structure, punctuation (dash), and anaphora. I consider my essay to be a five as it is evidently "a plausible reading" of the poem and contains a "superficial" analysis of the attitude and the poetic devices.

Looking at the flaws in my essay, I can immediately see that it lacks the personification of desire. Also, I interpret that the narrator is irritated by desire because he is unsuccessful in his pursuits. This is far too safe and predictable of an interpretation. A higher scoring essay would have addressed the fact that the narrator refers to desire like a person and demonizes it by showing how desire corrupts people and furthermore, is single-handedly responsible for all human suffering and self-destruction. I also failed to acknowledge that this poem is in fact a sonnet and subsequently failed to identify the structure of a sonnet with the Octave, the Volta, and the Sestet. A well-written essay would have addressed the tone shift starting with the line “Desire, desire!” as the start of the Volta or turn in the sonnet and the first eight lines as the Octave or obstacle that the writer is presenting. In addition, addressing how the author turns the attention back to the speaker in the last two lines of the sonnet in the Sestet (solution) would have made for a very thorough analysis of the sonnet.

In order to improve my poetry essays in the future, I will continue to ask myself guiding questions while close reading the poem (similar to the prose passage essay). My questions will include the following: What type of poem is this? What is the structure of this type of poem? What is the significance of a certain meter or rhyme scheme? Are there details that contradict each other to show contrast? What kind of poetic devices are being used so that it affects mood and tone? And if all else fails, how does the author use diction and syntax to create meaning?

I will also continue with my goal of staying organized and efficient in the prewriting and close reading stages of my 40 minutes, utilizing a full ten minutes to plan out my essay. My last goal will be more specific to analyzing poetry, as there are certain pieces of prior knowledge that I am significantly lacking. I will make a conscious effort to familiarize myself with the various poetry forms, the different types of meter and rhyme schemes, and the various poetic devices.