Milkman's transition to being a Independent?!

Hello guys! Welcome to my last blog for 20th Century Novel. Today, I would like to discuss a topic 
brought up in class discussion recently regarding Milkman. 
As discussed, Milkman is a rather dull character. He has no passion, no drive to accomplish anything. 
In comparison to the surrounding characters (Guitar, Macon Dead, Hagar), 
he has no real motive through almost the entire book. Guitar is an avid fighter for Black Equality, 
while Milkman has no aspiration. I argue that when Milkman is tasked with 
finding the gold bag, he starts his transition into having an actual purpose. For this claim to hold 
any weight, it is essential to show that there is a change in Milkman's purpose.

At the beginning of the book, Milkman has no aspirations. He has worked alongside his father for 
practically his entire life, he still lives with his family, 
and he has no plans to move out and establish himself in the world. This refusal to develop into his 
character is likely a sign of lack of ambition. This lack of enthusiasm 
ultimately makes Milkman a boring character. To be quite frank, the reader does not care that much 
about milkman's actions, because there are so many other well-rounded characters 
in the book. This 1-Dimensionality hurts Milkman as a character but allows for a more significant 
change in personality. 

Towards the end of the book, more specifically when Milkman is assigned to finding this treasure, 
we see a more significant change in purpose for Milkman. As discussed in class, 
we see Milkman take on this task with newfound responsibility. It's also sort of ironic that the 
only exciting task that Milkman undergoes was assigned by his family. This gives 
the readers the sense that Milkman is hugely dependent on those around him, even when he has his 
adventure. 

The reason why I say that Milkman transitions into being a more independent person is that is
 because Milkman transitions into a person with a lust to be separate. With the proper 
amount of money, Milkman desires to finally get away from his parents after 31 years. This 
signifies a massive shift in character since this is the first time Milkman strives for 
anything. This is probably due to his upbringing. Milkman has been handed everything: a home,
 a job, a loving girlfriend, etc. He never really knew the struggle of having nothing 
and needed to work for material goods. As such, he always expected those things to be there 
for him. I think this is also a prominent problem in society today as well. The shift to 
being a more independent and free symbolizes the fact that at some point, everyone branches 
off into their person, no matter how privileged or 1-dimensional they are.

Is Antoinette Her Own Person???????

Hey guys!
I thought the book, The Wide Sargasso Sea, was really interesting. It made me think about how my environment has affected my life, just as it did to Antoinette. Antoinette was characterized as mad because of her mother. Additionally, she was an outlier who was stuck between two cultures; the "black" culture and the "white" culture. Because she was stuck in this sort of limbo state, she found it harder to relate to anyone. This could potentially be the reason why she loses herself and succumbs to the Bertha Mason persona.
The question I asked myself while reading this story was, "Was going mad Antoinette's destiny, or was it simply a product of logical responses to events that occurred throughout her life?" I would argue that it was a product of logical responses that led her to become mad. I also believe Rochester played a huge role in this transformation.
Throughout her whole life, Antoinette has struggled to find her identity. Her friendship with Tia really confused her, as she sympathized her Tia's culture more than her own. Once her relationship with Tia was broken as a result of their fight, she was even more lost. Throughout all of this, everyone compared Antoinette to her mother. Since Antoinette could not really "find herself", she gradually turned into a version of her mother.
 This process was accentuated when Rochester started calling her Bertha Mason, and locks her in his house. This stripped Antoinette of any attempt at creating her own persona. I think that since she had no other image to follow in, she HAD to immerse herself into her mother's persona. Everyone said that Antoinette would go mad just like her mother (because it was genetic). When Rochester locked her up, she probably succumbed to societies expectations for her, and became her mother!
Do you guys agree with this? Do you think Antoinette was a product of societal pressures or destiny? let me know!

The Stranger - Should we be sympathetic to Meursault?

While reading the book, The Stranger, I instantly felt distrust towards the Narrator. His lack of sympathy and objective narration made it seem as if he was holding back his emotions from the readers. I thought that his lack of emotion and apathy towards his scenario was a product of Albert Camus's writing style. This assumption was proved to be false when he shot the Arab sympathize with Meursault? Are his actions the result of built up stress brought onto him by his Mother's The Death Penalty is an extremely harsh punishment; did Meursault deserve it?

            Personally, I think he did. This is because I believe that justice should be served based on merit. If you do something legally wrong, you should be punished accordingly for that crime. Despite this, I think that discovering the motive behind offense is important. In The Stranger, there was no obvious motive for the shooting. Meursault simply did it because he wanted to. This would be drastically different if the Arab charged at him with a knife or something. Instead, the crime is completely unmerited. I think this is the reason the Court was so interested in Meursault’s reaction to his mother’s death. I don’t think they judged Meursault was purely judged for this crime by how he reacted to his mother’s death, but rather I believe that the investigation used that reaction to create a reasonable motive for his crime.

By proving that he was unsympathetic during his mother’s death, the court proves that Meursault is a “monster” that doesn’t account for the effects of his actions. The motive here could simply be, “He’s a Monster who doesn’t care if he hurts (Or kills) other people”. I believe this is the reason why the punishment was so harsh. From their perspective, he could very well shoot another person for no reason. This, in my opinion, justifies such an extreme punishment. Do you guys think that Meursault deserved the Death Penalty? Do you think that Meursault was prosecuted because of him reaction to his mother’s death, or by merit? Leave a comment down below!!

Is Kafka Depicting Our Society?

While reading the novel, Metamorphosis, by Kafka, I noticed that there was something off about the protagonist, Gregor. Gradually, He seemed to change personality, being influenced more and more by his family's words and actions. Gregor seems to think that the people around him are always right, and he is in the fault. If his family gets mad at him, he tries to think of ways to change himself instead of considering that he might not be the one at fault. Maybe there is a relationship between the way Gregor views his environment, and how we view society.
I think that Gregor slowly loses his individuality. Throughout his life as a bug, we see him slowly make less and less decisions based on his thought alone. For example, when his family is moving out his furniture from his room, he is actually pretty happy. He knows that this means that there will be more space for him the crawl around. His perspective on the situation changes when he overhears his family talking about how Gregor must sad to see all his childhood furniture go. Immediately, he becomes really protective over the last piece of furniture in his room; the picture. This is just one of the many instances in which Gregor displays his inability to make decisions himself. I think that this occurs a lot in modern society. People often choose to follow the belief of the majority, instead of making informed decisions on their own. An example of this is a survey conducted by the American Culture and Faith Institute which shows that 40 percent of Americans believe that socialism is better than capitalism. This is surprising, since socialism is a complete garbage political and economic theory of social organization. I think the reason why so many people are in favor of socialism is because other people are too. Since a large group of people believe in someone, they lose their individuality and act as a group.
Despite this book being really wacky and abnormal, It still motivates people to think about the underlying messages of the text. There is so much room for speculation since everything is so random and different from orthodox novels. Did you guys like the book? Do you think Kafka is depicting our society? let me know!

Color Symbolism in the Sun Also Rises (As seen through Brett and Jake)

Color Symbolism is a prominent, underlying literary device that Hemingway uses in order to convey specific characteristics regarding the time period. For example, The wine that is drank by the protagonists is primarily red. This is similar to the color of the sun as it rises. In this blog, we will be exploring the implications of this similarity.

Throughout literature, red is used to depict lust. I believe in this novel, the color red is supposed express the lust that each of the main character has. For example, Brett yearns for sexual relations. This fact resonates throughout the entire novel, which is seen when she explains why she cannot be with Jake. Additionally, she falls for Romero, who is a bull-fighter. Since bullfighters usually perform with a red cape, this could be seen as Romero is a master of controlling "lust". This is why Romero gets Brett to fall in love with him.
Additionally, Jake also has a strong connection to Bullfighting, specifically bullfighters themselves. He is even called an aficionado at some point in the novel. I believe that this connection with bullfighting also relates to lust. Towards the end of the book, Jake sort of "loses" his aficionado status. I believe this symbolism relates to his inability to follow his lustful desires. Due to his injury, he cannot pursue sexual relations with others, namely Brett.
Do you guys agree with this analysis? Why do you guys think that the title of this book is, "The Sun Also Rises"? Let me know!

Jake's relationship with Brett (The Sun Also Rises)

In this blogpost, I would like to discuss the relationship between Jake Barns and Lady Ashley. In many ways, their relationship symbolizes a perfect relationship that could never happen. What is stopping their relationship from prospering?
In the text, Brett says that she could never have a proper relationship with Jake. This is due to Jake's injury that renders him unable to have sex. This is a deal-breaker to Brett, because she seems to need to fulfill her sexual desire. This is highlighted in the text when Brett stands Jake up so she can continue flirting with Count Mippipopolous. The reason she does this is because she knows Jake will never be able to fulfill her desires. This also brings up the question, "Why does Brett still continue this romantic relationship with Jake (e.g kissing)?
I believe this is because she finds comfort in Jake. They have clearly known each other for a long time and know each other well. Therefore, she can tell Jake all her problems and Jake will be there for her. In return, Jake gets small snippets of what their relationship COULD have been. If you think about their relationship in this way, its almost as if Brett is tormenting Jake with the possibility that there is still hope of them being together. Maybe this slight romantic relationship is just what Jake needs.
It seems that the both Jake and Brett have characteristics that are keeping this relationship apart. For Jake, it is his inability to have sex, which is what Brett wants in a relationship. For Brett, it is her tendency to avidly seek out a "fix" for her sexual desires. If they got together in a relationship, Brett would constantly cheat on Jake, which would leave them both unhappy.
Despite not being officially in a romantic relationship, I believe that both Jake and Brett do love each other. In the text, Jake very really jealous of the homosexual guys in the club. This implies that he cares for Brett and thinks that they are "wasting" Brett. He also gets upset at Cohn when Cohn asks Jake to set him up with Brett. This jealousy really highlights his affection towards her. We know Brett cares for Jake because she wont even start consider marrying Jake. This is because she knows she will constantly hurt Jake, and is trying to protect him.
I guess their relationship right now is the most beneficial for them both.

Exploring a Possible Similarity between Septimus and Clarissa

Hey everyone! One aspect of the book Ms. Dalloway that we didn’t mention in-depth during class is the similarities between Septimus and Clarissa. I believe that there is a meaningful connection between how Septimus does not exhibit feelings and how Clarissa loves Richard.

I am trying to explore the possibility that Clarissa’s feelings towards Richard are just as empty as Septimus’s passion for our world. The fact that Clarissa does not exhibit strong feelings towards Richard is exemplified many times in the text. For example, when Clarissa is going up to her room, she describes the feeling as a nun going up to her quarters (page 30). She feels like a nun because she does not sleep with Richard. Although the book portrays this separation as a product of Clarissa’s illness, I believe it symbolizes the sexual disconnect Clarissa feels from Richard. Additionally, the usage of the word “nun” implies that Clarissa does not show any love to Richard; she “suppresses” her urges. Although, in this case I would argue that she doesn’t suppress her sexual urges for Richard, she simply does not have them.

The argument that Clarissa feels no sexual urges for Richard is derived from the way Clarissa describes her feelings towards Sally Seton. She describes her feelings towards Sally to be different than her feelings towards a man (page 33). She also states that this bond could only exist between a woman to another woman. I believe this is an instance in which Clarissa is feeling more attraction to Sally than Richard. This is also supported by the text when Clarissa kisses Sally. Although she does not initiate the kiss, she willingly accepts it and enjoys it. This makes it seem as if Clarissa can never be truly be in love with a man. Since Richard is a man, she does not truly love him, thus there exists a distinct disconnection between the two. Now the issue of “why did Clarissa marry Richard if she does not feel anything towards him?” The reason why Clarissa marries a man instead of a female is because of her strict upbringing. Her strict upbringing sets predetermined expectations for Clarissa; she has to marry a man. For her, marrying a female is not even an option. This is supported when Clarissa states, “[her feelings] were completely disinterested” (page 33). She cannot succumb to her desires because she is not supposed to. Therefore, she continues on a truly disinterested relationship with Richard.

Septimus has no feelings. He does not feel love towards Lucreiza, and he does not feel the fear of death. Septimus CANNOT feel because something is holding him back (probably the memories of war). Similarly, Clarissa CANNOT feel anything in her relationship with Richard because she is also held back (from her true love, by society). The similarity between the two is interesting!