Journal 18

It is significant because for one they are in a different country, but they are also alone and isolated in a new place because they are all wounded. Also, the people in the town isolate them because they are officers and the locals don’t like them.

2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?

I feel like the “Hemingway hero” in the story would be the major because he has endured a lot, from his wounded hand and his wife who recently died, but he handles these tragedies very well and he suffers through all this with dignity.

3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up?  What is the significance of the major’s reaction? 

The photograph’s that the doctor hangs up are meant to give the men who are wounded hope that these machines have had past success, but it is easy to infer that those are all fake because they were the first men to use these machines. The major’s reaction is significant because he realizes this as well and his indifference shows to the pictures shows his role as the “Hemingway hero” because of how he accepts what has happened with dignity.

Journal 17

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph?  How does it relate to Prufrock?

 The epigraph relates because in the epigraph from Dante’s Inferno, it talks about someone discussing their confession was to someone in hell so he knew that it would never make it to the world and this relates to the story because the poem is also meant to be private.

2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks.  Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?

“Shall I part my hair behind?”, “Do I dare to eat a peach.  

All his questions involve him asking “Do I?” “Dare I?” or “Shall I?” this forms the pattern of how he feels unsure and has anxiety over what he should do with himself. This is because everyone has a different view on what they believe is he correct way.

3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?

His main flaw is that he feels like he is a background chacater in his own life because he feels like he is ridiculous and dull. This is shown in his wirting and it shows that his main flaw is that he has very low self asteem and has a very low opinion of himself.

4. Why do you think this is called a love song?  In what way is it a love song?

This is called a love song because of the irony involved in the poem in that it is called a love song but he is in fact alone so the title of the poem is meant to be ironic.

Journal 16

“Determinisim governs everything … The writer must study the inherited traits of individual character and the social condition of the time.  Together, these elements determine the course of any action, the outcome of any life.  Free will or self-determination is mostly an illusion, although chance is granted a role in human affairs.  Still, even the effects of chance are obliterated in the inevitable course determined by the interaction of inherited character traits and the social environment.“  

In “The Blue Hotel,” the Swede’s demise was caused by personality. He was very awkward and he needed alcohol to overcome this. Unfortunately, this caused him to be very violent and the members of the hotel turned on him. In the end his personality and the social environment he was thrown in determined his fate.

 However, in “To Build A Fire,” the man’s social environment had nothing to do with his death. The man went out alone because he was greedy and wanted to get the fortune that came with gold even after he was warned not to go out alone. The weather conditions turned against him and the man wasn’t fit to survive the actual environment in the area so his stubborn and greedy personality is what caused him to be put in a bad situation but in the end the physical environment was too much for him which is was determined his fate.

            

Journal 15

1.  Write a sentence that summarizes the story’s overall message, and provide  three direct quotes from the story that best illustrate this message.

To follow your own path and not be influenced by others when you know better

"Yes, that letter of yours, that came back with his

other things, left him free."

"It was not to be read before--unless--until-- I told

him so,"

“I don't believe he was glad to die. He was

always a timid boy, that way; he was afraid of a good

many things; but if he was afraid he did what he h

made up his mind to. I suppose he made up his mind

to go, but I knew what it cost him by what it cost me 8

when I heard of it. I had been through one war before.

When you sent him you didn't expect he would get

killed."

2.  What tactics does Editha use to make George believe as she does about the war?

She references all the great things people have done when they go to war and how they are remembered as great, but the most effective way she convinces him to go to war is because she gives him an ultimatum. She says she will only marry him if he goes and fights in the war. He loves Editha so he chooses to go to still keep her love after she manipulated him.

3.   Is there ever a time in which Editha truly understands what she has done?  Does she ever experience an epiphany?

Editha never truly understands the gravity of what she has done. She feels no remorse for what she has done and feels as if she has been wronged. This epiphany occurs at the end when she is talking to another woman and she feels innocent.

Journal 14

“Richard Cory“ (497)

Richard Corey represents both the ideal and the real views because in one way people consider his life to be perfect because of all his money and he was well liked. His reality though is very different because he ends up killing himself due to his depression which no one could see.

“Miniver Cheevy” (497)

This poem also represents both the real and ideal views. Miniver’s ideal world would be if he was alive in and older age and wishes to be a knight rather than what his reality is in which he is a daydreamer and miserable because of how the real world is. Because of this he just drinks and wishes to live in a different world rather than trying to change his own.

         

“Mr. Flood’s Party” (498)

Mr. Flood imagines him talking to other people when in reality he is alone. He lives in this past instead of living in the present reality. This could be because he is very old and all of his old friends have died and now he imagines still being in the company of other while in reality he is alone and all by himself. 

Journal 13

Journal #13 – Edgar Lee Masters Epitaphs (p. 502) 

Read “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” and answer the following questions.  

1.    What object symbolizes George Gray’s life?  How is this object representative of him?

George Gray’s life is described by the boat with a furled sail in the harbor. This represents his life because in his life he never attempted anything when he had opportunity so he never went out and tried everything, like the boat that never went out to sea.

2.    . How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s?  How do you interepret the last line of the poem?     

Lucinda Matlock went out and lived life and did the things that George Gray was too afraid to do. The last line of the poem means that you need to have ambition and energy to enjoy life and you cant live life without these things. 

         

3.    How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism? 

These two poems are examples of realism because they are both very plain styles of writing and nothing special happens to these people, they are just common people living normal lives.