Character Battle

I am really so excited that I cam up with a new blog format to explore my literary interests. For each subsequent novel that we read, I hope to compare and contrast characters within the same text or across texts and decide which trumps the other based on some criteria. This week I am comparing Age of Innocence to A Doll's House  in preparation for the AP Lit final exam essays. This week in the battle dome are Nora form A Doll House and Ellen Olenska from Age of Innocence. Which character is the more noble and free woman? There is no doubt in my mind that Nora is the more noble and courageous of the two women. Both Nora and Ellen are victims of the high standards and strict traditions of society. Nora is trapped in the "doll house" construct just as Ellen is victimized by the American New York society. Both women in some manner escape form the influence of these societal structures. Nora leaves her husband and kids and venture to discover herself aside form her duties as a mother and a wife. Ellen moves back to Paris to escape from the temptations that Archer is and the hardship of trying to find a place in New York Society. However, I believe Nora's escape to be more noble.Unlike Nora, Ellen came to America from the "outside". In many ways, the small group of people who are a part of the new York society are the "doll house", constricted by social customs. Ellen is not a part of this society, coming from Europe and she does not fit in, she is very much an outsider from everyone. Even from other women, Archer recognizes how she is not naive or ignorant like all of the other women of society who concede to the desires of males. However, Nora is a part of the society she is trapped in. She is a wife and mother confined in the walls of this doll house. She comes to realize at the end of the novel that she has blinded herself in her marriage. She does not love her husband nor enjoy her role in motherhood and wifehood.  Nora is almost physically constrained by the walls of the house. This can be seen in the contrast between the outside and inside of the house. The outside is viewed as harsh and cold while inside the doll house is warmth and family. Thus, when Nora decides to leave the house for the unknown she not only sacrifices herself but also she demonstrates that she is not subjugated by the will of society for her to be a domestic figure. Just as a point of comparison between the women, although not as prominently as Ellen, Nora demonstrates a forbidden interest in another off limits man herself. Ellen is interested in ineligible Archer Welland and Nora has very strong flirtatious encounters with Krogstad hmmmm... these women are becoming more and more alike than I first thought.

Happy Birthday Jane Austen!

The End of the Age of Innocence

I am excited for the discussion next week about Age of Innocence. I now the ending will strike different cords with everyone. In my reading of the text, I primarily focused on the effects that strict social conventions have on the members of the society. The way in which Wharton criticizes superficial codes of society is through the character Newland Archer. He very much struggles between a recognition of his love for Ellen Olenska (which is quite taboo) and an obligation to marry May Welland. in this way, Archer is one of the only characters in the novel I feel that is not truly innocent. He doe snot purposefully blind himself to his feelings or position in society like women do. He hates how so many of the women in this upper echelon group of New Yorkers denounce recognition of their knowledge and potential for the sake of becoming some man's wife. They strive to become objectified which is almost inhumane. Every man solely desires to have the most desirable or beautiful woman on his arm and the women concede to the desires of men. Ellen Olenska is a sharp tangent to these women which is very much why Archer is intrigued by her. I have not yet gathered or determined for myself whether he truly loves her or just is enticed by her difference. In the last section of the novel, the book flash forward s to Archer in his fifties and it is quite sad that he never was able to pursue his dream. Throughout the novel, he dreams and fantasizes of what could be with he woman so much so that in out lit circle we were confident that his lust for her would result in a sexual affair. However, this is not what happens at all. He has grown old, had children, and May Welland has died. His current state portrays such rigid stagnation that it draws significant sympathy for the man on my part. To live life for so many years and dream of a life in which you are happy and to not achieve this happiness is the greatest failure in my opinion. However, this draws upon my central question for the end of the text: Who, if anyone, becomes free in the end? Honestly, I would have to argue that no one truly escapes from the judgement and influence of these people. When Archer goes to Europe with his son on business, he is too much a coward, too afraid of how he may be rejected by society to approach the woman himself and sends his son to the woman's door. Even though Countess Olenska moves to Paris, I still do not think she was free from the grips of society. I think she was running away from he true feelings as well towards Archer because she did not  want to disrupt the :social machine" To visualize my ideas about Archer and Ellen''s relationship, imagine two people running in opposite directions, one east and one west. In between them is the society which tries to literally destroy anything or anyone that interferes with its traditions.

Understanding Emily Dickinson

"Faith" is a fine invention

185

"Faith" is a fine invention
When Gentlemen can see—
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency. 

Emily Dickinson

First off, the first line immediately reminds me of the statement in Grendel when the monster states, how religion is lunatic theory or something to that degree. I digress. Anyway, although this poem is very short, Dickinson conveys a significant message in such little text. I think Dickinson is commenting (possibly criticizing) briefly the hypocrisy of man and religion. In times of need when there is life or an outcome is certain, man does not call upon or practice in faith. Only in times of need, when the fear of uncertainty dons upon man and the future is out of his hands do they call upon a higher power to save them from their troubles. Dickinson uses metaphor to compare the treatment of faith by man as an invention, something that is manmade, a fallacy, or not concrete and true. When Dickinson calls faith an invention, she is describing how man do not display a devotion to their faith in time when they can "see" or in other words in times when their lives are pleasant and the future seems certain. However, Dickinson states that in emergencies. In modern times, I relate this to the idea of praying only when you need something. This is using God. If this is truly what Dickinson was trying to express, it speaks volumes about her thoughts about men in her society. The poem could state about man that once we become too great in our thinking and views of ourselves, our value of God decreases greatly. This includes places mortal desires and priorities over those of God. The microscopes represent the difficulty of sight.  Microscopes are optical instruments that have magnifying lens or a combination of lens for inspecting objects too small to be seen or too small to be seen directly and in detail by the unaided eye. Microscopes aid humans in their vision of things not distinguishable to the naked human eye. I think the microscopes are symbolic of the presence yet invisibility o f harmful things in life. Furthermore, the microscopes portray to me some kind o juxtaposition between the positions of humans as the small objects in which are magnified by God. Thus, since we are not able to see these things bring about considerable uncertainty. In these times of uncertainty, which I believe Dickinson characterizes as emergencies, man calls upon Go to help see what we mortals cannot see because God sees all. God is the microscope. He is an entity that, sees, hears, and watches all even when we cannot see things that are right in front of us. Dickinson could very p[possibly be criticizing the abuse of religion by man. Religion is not a seasonal or occasional devotion. It is one in which one’s life must be fully dedicated to the word and values of your faith. Finally, even the structure of the poem lends itself to the two main contrasting ideas I mentioned. The dash after the first line separates the two ideas structurally.