Philosophies

This past summer, I attended the Governor’s Honors Program (GHP), an intensive academic program that brings together some of the brightest minds in the state of Georgia for six weeks. The program is divided in to a major, which involves an extensive interview and application process, and a minor, which is chosen after a student is accepted into GHP. My major was in the field of mathematics and my minor was in that of communicative arts. The whole experience was intellectually stimulating in and of itself as I spent six weeks of the summer sharing ideas with some of the most intelligent students I had ever met, but there was one class in particular that really got the juices flowing, a class called "Perception vs. Reality." The class was formatted in such a way that it was a long discussion in which topics, such as the "I think therefore I am" solipsistic philosophies of Descartes, which also appear in the "I create the universe blink be blink" philosophy of John Gardener in the novel Grendel, and the nihilist philosophy of Turgenev, were conversed upon. Although the class was very interesting and intellectually stimulating as everyday I entered looking forward to a great debate on whether the world exists as a reality or not between me and several students of equally high intelligence, there is something about philosophers, such as Descartes and Turgenev, that throws the mind and body on a loop that never ends up back where it starts. Just hearing the argument that the world does not exist outside of ourselves can have a great impact on a person. In my case, the engaging experience opened my eyes to the many realities or illusions presented in life and caused my mind to adopt a more open mindset, one where the endless possibilities of life can be realized.

The class itself actually prepared me well for the different philosophies presented in both Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Grendel by John Gardner. Both novels are highly philosophical in nature as Grendel undergoes a major transformation in the novel. At first, Grendel associates everything with his mother and "smouldering eyes" that he sees in the dark. Then, Grendel continues on to his solipsism philosophy that he is the only being that exists in the world and that he is center of the universe. When he comes into contact with the Shaper and hears all of his poems and songs, Grendel then converts to a nihilist philosophy, especially after his encounter with the dragon. He feels that everything in meaningless and it is apparent that he does not believe in fate. Even when he is about to die, he claims that Beowulf coming was an accident and that his death also was not meant to be. In Frankenstein, some philosophy was also presented, especially that of nihilism in the form of the monster's view on life without a companion or someone to harass. Because the monster is all alone in the world, he sees no meaning in life so asks for a companion and when Victor denies him this, the monster goes on to harass Victor. This is his meaning in life, but when he has successfully destroyed Victor, there is nothing left for him to do so he goes to the ice cap to die. The story is rather sad, but still seems to echo nihilism, a philosophy I learned in GHP.

The Modern Prometheus

I must say that Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a very good novel that not only kept my interest from chapter 1-10, a period in which I did not put the book down, but also gave me much food for thought and exceeded any prior expectations for the novel. Then I again I wasn't expecting much mostly because of the debauchery made of the novel in the form of a terrible movie that was nothing like the actual book. I still remember watching the movie years ago when a disgusting looking creature was brought to life by some lighting and the doctor who made the actual living thing said "Its alive!!!" The monster was of course called Frankenstein and frankly this is the sort of thing I expected from the novel being the inexperience reader I am. I figured I knew the story before even picking up the book, as the monster kills somebody but feels remorse and then runs up into a tower and is burned to death. This, fortunately, is nothing like the book which is much deeper and more philosophical than the terrible movie. The monster can actually talk in such a way that we can understand, again unlike the movie. I guess it goes to show that reading the book is always better than watching the movie.
Another thing worth mentioning about the novel is the actual title of the novel, Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. The first part of the title is self-explanatory as the main character of the novel is Victor Frankenstein, a scientist that discovers the cause of life and uses it to create a horrific monster. The second part of the title is the one that actually interests me. For the seminar we had in class regarding the novel and the many themes it presents, I researched the Greek titan Prometheus who is famous for bringing fire to mankind. He is also the titan who was tied to a rock where an eagle came to eat his liver everyday and due to his immortality, he would grow a new liver and never die. One major thing that he is also said to have done is that he created man in a god-like image from clay. This can be connected to Victor Frankenstein as he created life through the monster he birthed, the only difference being that the monster is horrific in appearance when the image that Prometheus created was beautiful and godlike. Although this is a connection between the title and Victor, there is the glaring difference of appearance of the two and this led me to believe that there must have been another reason for the title. During the discussion in class today, the answer dawned on me after listening to the statements made by one of my classmates. Fire has long been held synonymous to life as the heat inside of us is what keeps us alive. This fire that Prometheus brought to man gave us life and a way to survive in the cold world. Victor essentially does the same thing when bringing life to the inanimate, thus discovering the secret of life, a secret that was previously the fire the Prometheus gave to man.

Hrothulf the Evil

In reading the most recent chapters in Grendel by John Gardner, especially chapters 8 and 9, I couldn’t help but to feel that Hrothulf is a very bad, almost evil, character. He just gives off a bad vibe that may not have been noticed by others, but struck me very strongly. From the moment he is introduced as a character that had come out of “orphan’s woe” to Heorot. I don’t know about you, but coming to something out of woe is never a good thing. Grievous distress, which is a fancy term for woe, can cause a person to great things, in a good and bad way, and Hrothulf seems destined to do terrible things, great but terrible. Every time he is brought up in chapter 5, he is associated with blood, flesh, or weapons. In his first conversation with Wealtheow, he is described as “Hrothgar’s flesh and blood.” Not really a bad thing, but the images of blood keep popping up leading me to believe that it is not just a coincidence, but it could just mean that I am seeing things that don’t exist, which is a real possibility. Then at the end of the scene when he is introduced, he is described as a “sweet scorpion” who sits and “cleans his knife.” This is freaky and clearly seems to foreshadow some type of disaster that will occur with Hrothulf being in the center of it all. Chapter eight continues with Hrothulf being described as very quiet and he has the Danes fooled that he is merely a quiet fellow who has been hurt by his father, Halga the Good, which is an ironic name considering how evil I think Hrothulf is, dying because of some type of attack. Although he is quiet, he is really scheming and not grieving or thinking as the people of Heorot believe. He has accomplished the most complete deception as everybody thinks he is nothing, but he is really a sneaky force to be reckoned with, sneaky being the key word. Every time I think about Hrothulf, images of Smeagol/Gollum from J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings keep popping up. Smeagol wasn’t really evil, but was definitely a schemer as he tried to kill Frodo by leading him to the giant spider always trying to get his own hands on the ring. Now that I think about, a lot of parallels can be drawn between Hrothulf and Smeagol especially because of what they are willing to do to get what they want. Hrothulf secretly schemes to get the throne, after having the trust of Hrothgar’s men, and Smeagol schemes to get the ring, after having the trust of Frodo. Going back to the way Hrothulf is regarded in the novel, even his mentor is called Red Horse. Blood is Red, an observation that I wanted to point out that I fell augments Hrothulf’s bad image. This may not have been what Gardner was trying to get across but it is what I noticed. Hrothulf may not be evil in many people’s eyes, but the way I see it, he is more evil than Grendel himself.

Grendel- Philosophy

When we first started reading Grendel by John Gardner, I was frankly intimidated as I am in reading any novel that may be even remotely difficult to read. Even in class, we had discussed how complex the ideas were and how philosophical the book would be, and because of this philosophical nature, close attention would have to be paid to the fine details. Usually, when I am intimidated by something, I really do not enjoy whatever it is I am intimidated by, so I was understandably surprised when I found myself liking the novel Grendel. Not only did I understand almost everything in the novel, but I was also comprehending the philosophy employed by Gardner especially after the scene when Grendel has his leg stuck between the tree trunks. Grendel’s solipsistic philosophy stating that “the world was nothing: a mechanical chaos of casual, brute enmity on which we stupidly impose our hopes and fears” (Gardner 22) and that only he exists in the world is actually exactly what I was able to study this summer at GHP in a class called Perception vs. Reality. In the class we studied Plato's Republic as well as Descartes "I think therefore I am" philosophy. The belief that the only definite truth in the world is that we ourselves exist and that everything else may just be pigments of our imagination was also looked at. This same philosophy is also employed by Grendel when he states that the universe is unfolding blink by blink. Grendel seems to basically state that he is the only one in the universe and because of this, is able to create based on his visions. When I actually took the class, the discussions we had were extremely intellectually stimulating and many times I was completely lost because of the confusing topic matter. I mean, the concept that anything and everything we perceive is reality is really mind-blowing especially when considering the only certain truth is that we ourselves exist and that no one else around us does. But, my prior experiences with the philosophy have helped me better understand not only the perspective that John Gardner is coming from, but also something about what Grendel is feeling, as a being all alone in the world with no one to associate with. His story is quite sad as he is too much like a man to be able to fit in with the beasts as even Grendel himself feels that he is too intellectually gifted. He is also too much like a beast to be able to fit in with man, as men do not understand his speech and always try to kill him when he approaches. The irony in this is that men are portrayed more as beasts than anything else in the novel so far, but that is straying off the topic of Grendel being a surprisingly good book with a lot of fuel for thought. It is difficult to read with all of the philosophical ideas presented, but is also very enjoyable.

The Sun Also Rises

I must say that I was rather disappointed with the ending of the story, especially considering what I expected from a novel by the great Ernest Hemingway. I have previously stated that the humor and the Anti-Semitism he uses in the novel are extremely surprising mainly because I was intimidated to read one of his novels; the same can be said about the ending. I expected some grand extravagant plot twist that held some deep meaning like in Star Wars when we discover that Darth Vader is really Luke Skywalker's father. Unfortunately that did not occur, as the novel ends with Brett Ashley leaving Pedro Romero and meeting Jacob Barnes in an anticlimactic bar scene, one of the many in the novel. In fact, the entire Book III was pretty bland, as it merely depicted all of the characters, Mike, Bill, and previously Robert Cohn, leaving and the main character Jacob Barnes being left alone and reflecting upon himself. There is one interesting point in th final section of the novel and that is in the last dialogue between Jake and Brett. Brett states that "Oh, Jake, we could have had such a damned good time together" (Hemingway 251). Jake replies "Yes, isn't it pretty to think so" Hemingway (251). Research I have done indicates that the lines are some of the more famous lines ever written by Hemingway and it is easy to see why. It is almost as if all of the events of the novel have been leading up to the scene where the two character, Brett and Jake, have gone through a series of experiences only to end up back to where they were in the beginning with only each other. In the opening scenes of the novel, Jake and Brett proclaim that they are in love with each other, yet can not be together for reasons I still do not completely understand. This relationship between the two is the only constant thing that remains throughout the novel as Robert Cohn, Count Mippipopolous, and Pedro Romero each take turns trying to get Brett but each fails, a failure indicative of how only Jake has a position of love with Brett. Not only is the last line famous because of its deep quality, but is also very sad and you can practically feel the futility that Jake feels. I am guessing that the reason Brett doesn't want to be with Jake is that he can not have sex due to injuries from the war. This is something that Jake can not help as he received the wound while serving for his country. Because Jake can not control his injury, sadness is given off by the last scene.
Another thing that is interesting is how Hemingway attempts to use Pedro Romero as a perfect foil to Robert Cohn. Robert is a weak individual and is most importantly a "Jew" so is looked down upon. Romero is a beautiful and handsome man with the courage to actually fight and kill a bull in a fight. This is not their only difference as Brett's reactions toward the gentlemen can also be seen as a major difference. Brett constantly rejects Cohn, but readily accepts Pedro Romero. There are also underlying themes of individuality such as how Brett loses her individuality when going with Pedro and regains it when she leaves Romero.

Ernest Hemingway- Anti-Semitic?

This past week in class, we had our second Literature Circle discussions about different books and their relation to gender roles; in my case it was The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. The first thing that caught my interest when reading through the book up until the fifteenth chapter is Hemingway's style. In my mind, I had held Ernest Hemingway up to be an author of epic proportions. I expected his novels to be profound with a deep meaning starting from the first couple of pages. I expected an author whose writing was so difficult to understand that it would feel like a foreign language to me. Frankly, I was intimidated to even try to read the novel, especially after my mom told me I might have to read the novel six times to even scrape the surface of understanding it. The LAST thing I expected was to find humor in the first pages of the novel. He actually seemed to be making fun of Jews and their stereotypically long noses. Robert Cohn, one of the characters in the book, was a Jew without a characteristically long nose, but the reason for this was that his nose was permanently flattened by a punch according to the book. Because this stereotype occurred in the beginning of the novel, it can be seen as merely an attempt to insert humor into the beginning of the novel. But, it is not just limited to the beginning of the novel as I learned through closely looking at the rest of the novel. The Jewish character, Robert Cohn, is repeated referred to as a "Jew" in a derogatory way, and whenever he does something wrong, it is because of his "Jewish" nature. He is clearly portrayed as an extremely different character than the rest in the novel and seems almost like an outcast. He is extremely weak, as shown when he turns green when he sees a bull fight, and is the only character not to participate in WWI, a fact that Hemingway feels is not very thing. Also, if you look at it from a gender roles perspective, he is constantly controlled by women. Whether it be his first girlfriend as presented in the book named Frances, who has him wrapped around her finger, or Brett, his later interest whose looks have enraptured Robert's mind, Robert is always chasing after the skirt tails of one women or another. All of this points to Hemingway trying to point to Robert Cohn being a weak character mainly due to his Jewish nature. This brings about the question of whether or not Hemingway is trying to portray his hate of Jews in the novel because it is accepted that Hemingway did not particularly like Jews. Granted, the early 1900s were a time when a decidedly Anti-Semitic sentiment was widely prevalent, and Hemingway could just be trying to show this through the animosity towards Jews in the novel. But, there is likely a specific reason for this. What that reason is, I don't know yet, but hopefully the end of the novel will enlighten me.

Kite Runner- Gender Roles?

Last week in class, we had our first literature circles regarding the novels we are reading. The novel that I am reading is The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, but another author caught my eye when looking over the list of authors a few weeks back. This author was Khaled Hosseini, the author of A Thousand Splendid Suns and Kite Runner. The reason he caught my eye was because I have just recently seen the movie Kite Runner and it was one of the most emotional movies I have ever seen, not just because of the events that occur in the movie, but also because the plot is likely real and has likely happened to some person before. This thought itself is extremely sad. After watching the movie and soaking in the sadness and letting it go, I had this great idea, why not look at the movie form a gender lens. I mean, some kids in class have to look A Thousand Splendid Suns, another one of Hosseini's books through a gender lens, so why not attempt to look at Kite Runner in the same perspective. There aren't very many women present in the actual movie, but figured it was worth an attempt anyways.
Although there were very few women present in the movie, the ones that were, even in death, seemed to have a big impact on the characters. Even in the beginning of the movie when Amir, the main character, complains that his father hates him because his birth resulted in the death of his mother, the importance of the mother figure is highlighted. It seems to have caused strained relations between the father and the child. Also, Amir's wife took on more of the role of a modern women because she was one. Besides this, there is much irony present in that the males in the movie take the place of women and men when looking at the movie from a traditional gender lens. The men are the providers, as they usually are in Muslim societies, and this is shown by Amir's father who works and gets money for Amir even when he is in America and has to deal with the language barrier. But, the traditional Victorian role of women as people who stay at home and watch the children and cook meals and clean the house is also taken by men. In the story, Hassan and other Hazari's who seem to be looked down upon for some reason, are the people that cook and clean the house. The relationship between Hassan and Amir also has some depth, but does not really have to do with anything about gender roles besides the deep everlasting friendship that they had even though they went their separate ways in the world. The irony might have been used by the author in order to show how weak some men were viewed in the society or to show that the society was male dominated so that even women's jobs were taken by men. Other than this, there just wasn't much else to be seen from a gender lens regarding the movie. Then again, I am looking at it with some amateur eyes, but I tried.

Sports Confession

I love sports. There is no simpler way to put it. If there ever was something to know about me, it is that I am a religious follower of almost every sport that exists, be it baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, golf, tennis, volleyball, swimming, track, bowling, hockey, and even poker. Every Saturday and Sunday, I am either at a friend’s house or at my house cooped in front of the TV watching football or basketball. Of course if I had homework, I would definitely be sitting at home working diligently to finish my ineffably important work with such quality that even a scholar in the subject would find it hard to find an error. Hopefully, that moving confession regarding my brilliant homework didn’t sound as unconvincing to you as it did to me, but if anyone believes the statement, I’m all for it. My love for sports extends almost to a fault, as it can be distracting at times when school overloads me with work. My parents call it an obsession; I call it a valuable source of entertainment and a useful and productive hobby. True, it may sometimes get in the way of my homework, but there is something about watching that team or individual on the television screen giving everything they have for the sake of a victory that invokes this deep emotion, this strong determination inside of me like nothing else can. If you think about it, sports basically personify determination and sacrifice; players have to fight through injury and the death of others while maintaining a steely perseverance, never losing sight of their goal. It is very easy to get lost in the competitiveness of any sport and lose sight of the major lessons that can be learned. Throughout my life, I have drawn inspiration from athletes that give up so much for the help of their team and achieving their goal. So, if there is anything that people need to know about me, it is that I love sports, not only for the entertainment, but also for the inspiration and lessons that can be taken from them.
Usually at school Indians, as a race are perceived as those ho study a lot and don't do much more. I would like to just throw out there the fact that most of us, like me for example, don't study very much at all, but instead have other activities that occupy our times whether it be computers, video games, or sports as it is with me. On a side note, if Joe Lee does not comment on this post, I will be very disappointed. To make this blog entry a little bit literary, I would like to comment a little bit about the Miller in the "Miller's Tale." To say he is a disgusting character does not really seem to fully capture his persona, and the fact that people like him actually exist in the world makes it even worse. The actual story he told was somewhat surprising though considering the initial image that is given. You expected a disgusting tale, yet to my eyes, the tale did not seem too disgusting. Although, to the people of that time, having a lover other than a spouse, especially in a women might have been disgusting. Those were my views on the tale at face value, or after my first skim through the story.

Reflective Writing

Reflective writing about volunteering and a life lesson I learned:
I will never forget those eyes. No matter where life may take me, no matter how my path unfolds, that moment, that look, that face, those eyes will remain etched in my mind. In every lifetime, there are a few moments that can be deemed life-changing and are capable of defining one's time on this earth. The summer of 2008 was one of those moments, when a small and innocent child deeply impacted me through those ineffable, poignant, unforgettable eyes.
We as a society, or a least the society I grew up in, is governed by materialism as many of us go through life looking solely for self-improvement and self-happiness. As much as I loath to admit, this was exactly how I was, and even when I did volunteer to help others, it was for the volunteer credit, not for the people themselves. In the summer of 2008, this all changed when my family took a trip to India. I had of course been there before to visit my grandparents and other extended family members, but never had I ventured into the rural depths of the country as I would do that summer. When we landed in India in June of that year, my parents first broke to me the news that we would be visiting a school in a small town near the place my dad had grown up as a young child. At the time, I was not sure whether I should be excited to see how far my dad had come from his poverty-stricken town or disappointed that I wouldn't be able to spend my time in the luxury of my grandparents house in the middle of the Chennai, a major city in South India. As we left the city to head into the rural areas, I noticed that the further away from the city we got, the worse the living conditions were; the streets got dirtier, the buildings looked more archaic, and evidence of malnourishment was shown in the people on the sides of the street. It was during this time, that I felt a small doubt creep into my mind on how I had been living up to that point in my young life. I began to notice how fortunate I was to live the way I did, and that there were people in the world who truly needed help.
When we finally reached the rural school, I was dumbfounded. I couldn't move from where I was, not because I was in awe, but because I was in shock at the conditions of the school. It literally looked like a shack, and once inside, I saw that there were no desks and no blackboards, and the extremely meager school supplies, consisting of a few books and posters, that were there were out of date. How could any school function on so little? While I was walking, pondering this appalling thought and how I could help out, I saw one young boy sitting outside of the school staring at me. Seeing the school itself had left me with an unforgettable image, but those eyes that seemed to look into the very depths of my soul were on another level. The child looked to be raised in poverty and had a sort of malnourished look to him, but his eyes told a story their own. They told a story of the hardship he had likely faced trying to make ends meet in the poverty-stricken town; they told of a life where having two meals a day was a luxury; they told a tale of deep sadness, a tale he had remained strong through, but that he was ready to give up. But, there was one other thing I saw in his eyes that struck me; it was a small glimmer of hope, a hope that maybe he could live on and persevere, and that maybe I could help him leave the poverty cycle that had trapped him. If a child who had endured so much in such harsh conditions could have hope for a better future, shouldn't I, someone who has lived in relative wealth, do all I can to help him. Wasn't it Thomas Jefferson that stated, "All men are created equal." If this is true, then isn't it our duty to do everything in our power help those with less than us and raise them to a level of equal opportunity.
When I got back home from the trip to India that summer, I sat down and thought for the first time in my life that maybe I could do something to help someone outside of myself. I realized that even helping that one child realize his hopes would be enough for a lifetime of contentment and accomplishment. Since then, I have founded a club in school to help raise money to send to underprivileged children in India, and have also participated in other charity activities geared towards helping those less fortunate than ourselves. After seeing those eyes, I can truly say that I will never forget that boy and that my very soul has been changed. I have become enlightened to the fact that if you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.

This recently came up in a college essay I had to write and it brought back old memories that I thought I would share.

Winesburg, Ohio- new season

This past week in class, we had our fish bowl discussions about the short-story cycle written by Sherwood Anderson called Winesburg, Ohio. To say the least, the discussions were extremely insightful and gave me ideas regarding the topics that I would have never thought about. Among the short stories discussed were "Paper Pills", "Adventure", "Tandy", "Death", and "Loneliness"; for each of the discussions several comments caught my interest. The particular story that I chose was "Adventure" and in reading deeply into the plot and the characters, I discovered deeper meanings that I would have previously not found possible.
The story "Adventure" seems to be about a typical girl, a rather bland maid named Alice Hindman, whose lover, Ned Currie, left her. During their younger years, the two had "hooked up", but then Ned felt his greater calling in Cleveland and left Alice saying that he would be back when he got some money. After failing in Cleveland, he moved to Chicago where he met some women who attracted his attention and eventually forgot all about Alice...except when he looked at the moonlight. Throughout the whole chapter, this one line bugged me and made me wonder why would he, if he had completely forgotten about Alice, remember her when he glanced at the moon. There is a scene depicted in the chapter where the two met in a field under the moonlight, but it seems too ironic to have a definite importance. Usually, the moonlight combined with a summer night symbolizes a lasting love, but in the story, the love doesn't last for more than a few months, at least in Ned's case. Alice is stuck to her love for years after he has gone constantly obsessing over him in an almost fanatical way. This moonlight scene is very similar to the scene in All the King's Men when Jack and Anne both sit in a roadster in the moonlight professing love for each other only to eventually part ways. The irony is repeated as both loves don't last, but the question of why Ned remembers Alice when looking at the moon persists. Despite the irony presented through the love falling apart, Anderson seems to leave remnants of the previous relationship in the moon, thus supporting the symbolic nature of the moonlight present. This ambiguous nature of the moon as shown in the story can go back to the ambiguous qualities of many of the characters. There is no definite clear cut personality in the whole book. Even Alice, who seems to be the prototypical maid, is different due to her nude adventure in the rain. This ambiguous nature, an ambiguity that can once again be tied in with All the King's Men and Willie Stark, may also contribute to the grotesqueness of the characters in the novel.
Anderson seems to have an uncanny ability to tie together seemingly unrelated stories by giving them certain key similarities that are hidden within the depths of his writing. Ms. Clinch stated her fear that the class may not like one of her favorite novels, but I can assure that the fears are unfounded.

Angels in the Outfield: The Abcarian Story of Wing

In class of Friday, we had an intellectually stimulating discussion regarding the brilliant symbols that Sherwood Anderson uses throughout the novel Winesburg, Ohio. Although the stories seem unrelated, the appearance of similar messages and pictures throughout every short story dispel the thought. Among the symbols discussed were rain, passion, windows, artistry, restlessness, and the presence of darkness and shadows. Also in class, a researcher who had done extensive studies on the writings of Anderson was discussed. This literary researcher was called Richard Abcarian. In his studies, Abcarian found a pattern in most of Anderson's stories in Winesburg, Ohio once again showing that the stories are interconnected in portraying some meaning. The four part of this pattern were 1)The central character in the story is already grotesque in his present state, 2) In the story, there will be a flashback to a time when the character was not grotesque to show how the character gained his grotesqueness, 3) The betrayals that cause the grotesqueness occur the moment the character is filled with youthful hope for the future as well as purity, love, and dignity for the self, and 4) The character in his present state has an afterglow or some residue of this previous self before grotesqueness struck. Although not all of the stories have all of the elements listed in the pattern, I found it quite interesting that the pattern did apply to many stories, especially the story called "Hands."
"Hands" is a story about an old man named Wing Biddlebaum who has large, uncontrollable hands. He very rarely talks, but opens up greatly to one man, a man named George Willard who appears throughout the novel. Wing is characterized by his hands, hence the name of the chapter being "Hands", and when he talks or gets excited, his hands take on a life of their own and sometimes he is forced to punch a wall in order to stop them from doing things he doesn't want them to do. Here, as Abcarian indicates, Anderson establishes the character as being grotesque. Next, the flashback occurs, as Wing thinks back to the days he was called Adolph Meyer and was a school teacher in Pennsylvania. He exuded a natural calming presence for children and seemed to be a natural teacher. Even then, he gestured greatly with his hands and even placed his hands on the shoulders of children in order to help them feel comfort. Then disaster struck at the moment Adolph was feeling at home and at peace with himself as a teacher of children as he was filled with hope for the future. One of the children in the school, who like Meyer, told his dad about how Meyer touched him and eventually word spread like wildfire and he was kicked out of Pennsylvania after being accused of being a pedophile. After being kicked out of the town at a point when he was filled with a youthful hope for the future, as Abcarian states, Wing eventually settled in Winesburg, Ohio. At the time of the narration of the story, Wing has told the story to George Willard and his telling of the story indicates that Wing still has an afterglow of he days he called himself Adolph Meyer, the final step in the pattern Abcarian states is present in Anderson's novels.

New Players: Tess and Candide

Success is defined as the favorable, prosperous termination of endeavors or the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like. Looking at the above definition, I am not sure whether or not finishing my books on file project can be considered a success. True, I did terminate an endeavor, but was it prosperous. In terms of the grade I am likely to receive, probably not, but in terms of the fact that I just finished reading and doing a project on two famous literary works, maybe. Candide and Tess of the d'Urbervilles are two novels that have been dissected and widely read by scholars for years. There must some reason behind this.
Candide, by Voltaire, was an extremely awkward book to read and understand due to the randomness of it all. The action in the novel seemed to be taking place in a different area every few pages and people kept dying and coming back to life. It was almost absurd to try and read it. If a person got his head chopped off, some magical surgeon or physician could sew it back on and fix it. It seemed that Voltaire was almost satirizing death. After finishing the novel and reading up on the background of the novel, it began to make a little more sense. Before reading the book, I had no idea that the novel was a satire. This was likely a mistake on my part because it caused me to extremely confused and caused my initial lasting impression of the novel to be rather bad. As I previously mentioned, I better understood the novel after learning that Voltaire wrote the novel as a satire of Leibnitz philosophy. Leibnitz, a rival philosopher to Voltaire, claimed that all was for the best at all times. Through a character in the novel named Pangloss, Voltaire showed the absurdity of the claim through a series of random events. The mission of achieving a full satire was the reason for actually randomizing the events. Despite my initial dislike due to my ignorance, I can see why it is considered one of the greatest philosophical, satirical novels of all time.
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, was an extremely Victorian and romantic novel with love taking a major place in the novel's action and plot. This romantic nature caused me to dislike the novel. Also the language is romantic and dare I say mushy at times and did not contain the slightest appeal to me. Although the genre really didn't suit me, I can appreciate good writing when I see it. Hardy does an amazing job of setting the scene. Each time there was a scene change, Hardy followed with a deep description of the environment, so deep that I could easily visualize the location in my mind. Also, to augment the completeness of the description of the scene, Hardy seemed to seamlessly integrate the characters into the setting. The character's personalities and descriptions matched that of the setting. Overall, the novel was amazingly written, but the genre did not suit me.

Jack Burden's Season Stats

The past couple of weeks in class, project discussions on All the King's Men were assigned and done. There were several very interesting and intellectually stimulating discussion topics such as analyzing whether a character was evil or immoral, studying Warren's use of time in the novel, and analyzing the father figures in the novel, but the one that stood out the most was the topic regarding Jack Burden and his evolving approaches to life that occurred throughout the novel.
In the novel All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren essentially chronicles Jack Burden's life seemingly starting from his middle ages and utilizing flashbacks to provide the reader with insights into his early life. Although the novel does not move chronologically, Warren still shows us that in his younger years, Jack was an idealist, he fact that he himself admits in the novel. In the lengthy flashback that Jack has after finding that Willie has been having an affair with Anne Stanton, Jack revisits his high school and college years. These years were filled with Jack and his ability to view everything in positive shade, a stark difference from the pessimism and apathy he exhibits later on in the book. In the flashback, Jack Burden takes on a naive and romantic view on life, a view that is centered around Anne Stanton. In the scenes of summer love depicted through the flashback, Anne Stanton is portrayed as an almost angelic being. She is described as a perfect being, able to stop his reality and ingrain her image into his very soul. As the novel goes on, Jack continues to evolve and eventually reaches a new philosophy.
After his the scene where Jack leaves Anne and attends college, he slowly begins his transition into the Great Sleep state of his philosophical being, a transition that ends when he decides not to continue his graduate thesis on Cass Mastern. The Great Sleep period is characterized by idleness as well as a need to isolate himself from society. After learning of how Cass Mastern unwittingly led to the death of his friend as well as the loss of his lover, he realizes that the world can be cruel. This cruelty seems to strike Jack and puts him in a daze-like state. Jack seems to believe that no matter what people do in life, nothing will change, essentially saying that living is useless. His habitual idleness, shown through his ritual of going to work and coming back home to go to sleep, augments the gloomy and slow mood of this section of the novel. This stage of his life eventually comes to an end though when he finds that Willie Stark has been having an affair with Anne Stanton. This seems to jolt him out of his reverie sparking the next change in his philosophy.
After hearing of Willie's unfaithfulness with Anne, Jack takes a trip to the West and comes up with a "secret knowledge" he refers to as the Great Twitch. The idea of the Great Twitch is that everybody is controlled by some random impulse in the blood called the Great Twitch. No one has any responsibility for his or her actions or consequences of those actions. He takes solace in this idea because he shield himself from having to take any responsibility for what he has done in the past. In this period, Jack takes more carefree approach to life and is almost smug in it because he believes that he has a secret knowledge that no one else has. After the deaths of Adam Stanton, Willie Stark, and Judge Irwin, Jack Burden seemed to discard the idea of the Great Twitch saying that he had seen many people live and die, and it had nothing to do with the Great Twitch. This marked the final transformation that Jack Burden took essentially ending his cycle of evolving. An end to the season.

Willie Stark: Corruption=Success?

Today in class, we were having an intellectual discussion on the novel All the King's Men, and were discussing the characteristics of some of the major characters. During this discussion, one particular question on a particular character caught my mind. The question was regarding Willie Stark's success as a person and politician. Throughout the novel, the character progression of Willie Stark is shown through a series of flashbacks and events as well as through his reactions to these said events. Although the events are shown and explained, the question of how Willie became such a success begs to be answered.

It can easily be said that Willie's claim to fame was the incident with the fire escape. Willie, sensing corruption in the Mason City politics, motioned to hire a group of black men to build the local schoolhouse. In a bout of racial anger, the city hierarchy campaigned to take Willie out of his office of Treasurer and replaced him with a sheep that would do their will. The construction firm the city ended up hiring turned out to build the schoolhouse in such a way that it needed repairs before it was even finished. As a result, when a fire drill was done a few weeks later, the fire escape fell killing three students instantly boosting Willie into the spotlight. At this time, he was considered an honest man having never been corrupted politically or morally due to the fact that he did not drink or have affairs. Despite the fact that this event did cause Willie to be nominated to run for governor, even though he was a dummy, and gave Willie a good deal of political fame, Warren doesn't seem to intend for this particular event to be Willie's defining moment. Earlier in the novel, Jack Burden stated that people like Willie didn't get lucky, but instead created their own luck, and the scene described above seemed awfully like luck.

Later on in the novel, Willie Stark undergoes a major character shift and Warren seems to intend this event to be the one that changes Willie and lead him towards success. As previously said, Willie was nominated as a gubernatorial candidate, but only to serve as a dummy who could take votes away from another candidate. For a good bit of the campaign, Willie had no idea that he was being setup and as a result was extremely boring and bland in his speeches and campaigning. But, when Sadie Burke, his later assistant, told him about what was happening to him, he exploded in a burst of uncharacteristic action. He got extremely drunk and then next day, attended a picnic and gave an extremely emotional and savage speech. It seemed at this point that Willie became a true politician and molded his way to success creating his own luck. He essentially became corrupt, but not in a political sense. His drinking indicated a moral corruption that would later morph into a political corruption that would show through his actions. After this event, Willie showed the signs of a true politician, going on with a chameleon-like persona molding to whatever the audience wanted to see. When talking to the public and giving a speech, he used raw emotions and passion, and when talking to government peers, he was able to use an academic voice. It was almost as if Warren mandated it necessary for corruption to go along with political success, a success that Willie Stark definitely achieved.

Adam Stanton Striking Willie Out?

When reading All the King's Men, many questions appeared in my mind as to why a series of events occurred. Being the complex novel that it is, All the King's Men is not the easiest read and contains many plot elements and character twists that cause the reader to be confused at times. From the fact that Judge Irwin was really Jack's father, to the fact that Willie Stark was having an affair with Anne Stanton, Robert Penn Warren, the author of the novel, seemed to add many inexplicable twists in the novel. One of these twists of which I was most curious about was the fact that Adam Stanton ended up killing Willie Stark.

Throughout the novel, Adam Stanton seemed to have some sort of perversion towards the corrupt. Warren made it clear that he hated politics for this reason. Whenever Jack Burden mentioned that he was into politics or brought up politics in a discussion, Adam seemed to undergo a character shift as he immediately became cynical towards the subject sometimes even angering Jack. This was of course highlighted by the fact that he outright refused to take control of the hospital at first merely because he hated politics and he hated Willie Starks for his corruption.

When Anne came to Jack to attempt to force him into convincing Adam to direct the hospital effort, Jack stated that he had to alter Adam's reality and view on life. He was filled with the noble figures of his father Governor Stanton and Judge Irwin. Warren almost seemed to portray Adam as a naive individual because of his views on the world. In finding that Judge Irwin had taken a bribe to reach his position and that Governor Stanton had covered up the bribe to protect his friend, Jack seemed to change the novel as he successfully altered Adam's reality and showed that corruption is everywhere. Then Adam's immediate acceptance of Stark's proposal to run the hospital after getting knowledge that his father and the Judge were corrupt was also surprising. He seemed to accept the fact that corruption was prevalent in society, especially after hearing about his father, yet he continued to go on and kill Willie Stark in a cruel twist of irony. Stark seemed to be coming clean from his corrupt ways only to be shot by a person who hated corruption. After his acceptance of the job, Stark came over to Stanton's apartment and gave his "all good must come from some bad" spiel and once again Stanton's animosity towards politics and corruption was highlighted.

As the novel went on, I continued to wonder why Adam hated corruption so much as he then slugged Gummy Larson in the face when he came to visit him regarding giving him the hospital construction contract. When Adam finally found out that Anne had had an affair with Willie and then killed Willie by shooting him in the heart, I gained a little perspective one Adam's psyche and Warren's purpose for him. Throughout the novel, Adam seemed to be the character foil of Willie Stark, who seemed to personify corruption. When he learned that Anne was having an affair with Willie, essentially corrupting herself, it was Adam's last straw as he cracked. It was almost symbolic as both Adam and Willie died by gunshots to the heart area as Adam had felt deeply betrayed in the heart when he died and Willie was emotionally spent. Adam remained against the prevalence of corruption, a concept that was a major theme in the novel, till the end.