christil’s Blog

who ate fire in paint hotels or drank turpentine in  Paradise Alley

who chained themselves to subways for the endless ride

who created great suicidal dramas on the apartment cliff-banks

who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg

who cut their wrists three times successively unsuccessfully

who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits

who jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge

Suicide is a well-establish motif in Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’.  We can tell as readers that even without suicide, the characters in the poem are struggling to survive. With the suicide theme, it makes it more dramatic and alive.

However, Allen Ginsberg’s ways of showing suicide are intriguing, he changes the direction of what he wants to present.  First, he noted that the characters drinking turpentine (a poison) in Paradise Alley. It sounds as if the character is in “Paradise” drinking poison and he will not die. It goes into religious aspect of life and death and Heaven (or Paradise) and hell. Although, we are not certain whether the character is alive or depending on what Ginsberg means by “death”. Then he goes to the characters chained themselves to subways for the endless ride, as a meaning of the chance of survival of the characters. It can be “endless” for the characters.

Next, the characters created “suicidal” dramas on the apartment cliff-banks. Here, Ginsberg is less direct on what the characters are doing. We do not get specific details of the suicide dramas that were created. Then he changes his directions of suicide when the characters plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg. This may shows us nothing of committing suicide because we may think of it as the character s getting down on his knees and hands searching for food. It really shows us how Ginsberg is questioning whether or not suicide is a right thing to do.

Then we go back to the details of suicide, but this time it seems a bit more personal. As the characters were cutting their wrists three times successively, they were unable to succeed.  This show the suicidal attempts were unsuccessful, therefore open an antique store.  Then, he goes to saying they were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits. This shows that Ginsberg believes the characters are innocent and were burn against their will.

Finally he takes us to the jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge. He shows us that suicide was just a joke when the characters jumped off the bridge and walked away unknown and forgotten into the ghostly daze of Chinatown soup alley ways & firetrucks. It was like nothing happens, “unkown” and “forgotten”, and they live to see another day.

All the different ways of displaying suicide can be assume of the thoughts of Allen Ginsberg.  It starts out serious with the poison to joke as walking away alive after a jump from the Brooklyn bridge.

The definition of loyalty is the faithfulness to commitments or obligations. It is a feeling or attitude of devoted attachmnet and affection. Loyalty is so tragic in this play because Eddie’s commitments of keeping quiet about Marco and Rudolpho was tested when his feelings for Catherine and suspicious of Rudolpho grew bigger in which he cannot control. Betrayal becomes a huge part of the play as well as in reality of the time. We did see that Eddie was only gunning for self-satisfaction especially when Catherine wants to marry Rudolpho, and to end this is to have Rudolpho arrest for being illegal.

Loyalty is important to the blue-collar ethnic community that Miller portrays in the play as illegal immigration is a big issue at the time of the play. Both Marco and Rudolpho depends on Eddie’s, Beatrice’s and Catherine’s loyalties of not ratting them out. For Eddie, Beatrice, and Catherine, they all need the loyalty of one another as well not to leak anything of the issue of housing illegal immigrants.

Loyalty might have been a complicated issue to Miller in the 1950s because of what was happening then. World War II had just ended and the country was just recovering. when the Cold War fueled up between the US and Soviets, there is a national anixety going around, and people are afraid of one another. As McCarthyism takes over the country, one cannot tell who is who. Literatures became one of the many ways that reflected upon the conflict of self-satisfaction, culture self-doubt about conformity and true worth of American values.

Loyalty is such a difficult value for Eddie because it is one of the things that is holding himself up. He is willing to be loyal to keep quiet about Marco and Rudolpho since he did not want any troubles, but when he is about to lose Catherine, he snap and ratted them out. Eddie tries to hold onto his loyalties but because of his suspicions on Rudolpho becomes a bigger issue, Eddie could not let it go. Eddie thinks that although he did betray Marco and Rudolpho that he should be thanked for taking them in. Eddie does not see the loyalties Marco and Rudolpho suppose to have on him. He thinks that his loyalty should differ from the both of theirs. 

The narrator tries to persuade the reader into viewing the two women in the way how he portrays them to be. At first, he describes Carrie’s insecurities of herself compare to Mrs. Vances’s elegance. Therefore, the reader can understand that Carrie is trying to learn and imitate Mrs. Vance, and at the same time develop more desires. He then jumps into describing the scene as both the women walks down Broadway. By going into details of the whole scene allows the reader to understand what is going on.  The narrator continues detailing the people in the scene of how they are portray and how they are reacting to life. The reader then can realizes how New Yorkers are really like in the times. Finally the narrator describes Carrie’s surprise and interests in the whole thing. Carrie had not experience anything of the sort and as for the first time, she is fascinated by it. The reader then realizes that such a big event such as walking down Broadway brings Carrie so much fascination while Mrs. Vances just enjoying the walk as if she had done it so many times.

as a victory, the narrator is able to get herself out of captivity. She is able to represent and become herself through her imagination. her imagination is the power and the solution to her escaping the “captivity” is in. By creating herself a pattern on the wallpaper, using her imagination, she is able to break free. Her husband (or society) was stopping her from being who she is, so when she begins to retailate she is able to win over her husband. she was able to bring down her husband and his medical practice that he has been using on her – both that has drove her to sanity.

as a defeat, the narrator is consider “crazy” so in a way she needs her husband to support her. She cannot just leave him ”passed out” in the nursery. Also, her husband’s reputation as a physican is ruined because of her being “insane”.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant –

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth’s superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind –

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant –

What does “slant” means? Why does Dickinson use the word?

Why is Truth capitalized? Is it important?

The “tell it slant” makes me question of how the truth(s) are tell. Does she mean to tell us that telling the truth is never straight up but slant?

The dashes at the end of the line is a pause or a break for more explanation; a missing part of Dickinson’s mind

Success in Circuit lies

Why is circuit capitalized? Does it symbolize anything in particular?

What is the success in circuit? What does she means? It seems like the truth travels like a circuit, and the success in the circuit is a great accomplishment.

Too bright for our infirm Delight

Why is Delight capitalized?

What does she means by “infirm?”

The success of the circuit in the previous line is too much to accept even if they are horrible to hear.

The Truth’s superb surprise

What does the truth brings that is so surprising? Is the truth really superb?

The truth is superb because of the surprise that it withhold. Once the truth is reveal it is surprising as well as hurtful depending on what the truth is.

As Lightning to the Children eased

With Lightning and children is capitalized, do they both means something when combined?

Once the truth is reveal, the surprise of the truth strike like a lightning that is disturbing to children.

With an explanation kind

The sentence does not have any subject to help describe or lead us to what is needed to explain.

The Truth must dazzled gradually

What does she imply about “the truth must dazzled gradually”? Does the truth dazzle?

When the truth is to be reveal, the most important part is that it should be handle carefully.

Or every man be blind –

In the previous line, revealing the truth should be handle properly since “every man be blind” by it if it is hurtful.

Who is she referring “man” to? Society? Family member?

The differences posed as a problem to Whitman because his claim to writing his poem is “I know you.” Because of the differences, Whitman finds that he is “disintegrated” from everyone else. He is part of the individual network that each individuals is portraying. whitman feels detach from everyone else, as if he is not part of the crowd. Because of his belief that he wants to know you, this kind of feeling is uncomfortable to him even though he really admire the poeple on the ferry. This problem is resolve by the end of the poem as Whitman accomplish his goal of knowing you. He was able to feel the connection between him and you a lot stronger than at the beginning of the poem. Whitman continues his ideas of culture vs. nature by saying that nature is everything that makes up who we all are. And because of that idea, he wants to unite each other as a complete whole through the experience we all go through together.

The image I chose is the the the little sapling by itself. I chose this image because according to the line “the smallest sprout shows there is really no death,” we sometimes see life in a pessimistic way that we do not admire our surroundings. We were taught that life is too short and one day die, but in nature, life is endless. When I see a sprout, life itself rebirth. The opportunities that I had encounters throughout my life is like the sprout that whenever I see it, I know that I can still improve on it because those opportunities are not dead yet.

Emerson means that colleges control people and set limits of what is to be taught. As for books, they are being misread by institutions. Colleges and books are all base on nature. Without the works of the nature, books and colleges do not exist. In the discussion in class, we talked about unlocking nature brings out the reflection of yourself. The importance of learning that colleges and books only “copy” the language of the field and work yard because every book that colleges use are all base on the existence of nature. In nature, there are rules and obligations to follow while in books, they are just someone’s opinion or experience in the natural world. This fit into the arguement of “creative reading” because books should make us inspire to read and imagine, but instead of letting us fill in the creative thoughts, we are taught to take in what we read and digest it. This results in the relation of creation vs. imitation. Institutions (colleges) set limits in our understanding of nature and the work of books. We are to imitate what we read in college, but when we read outside of college and into the nature we go, we are able to become creative in our thoughts and readings.

As I continue walking, the old man keeps on urging me to keep up with him. He plucked a branch from a nearby maple tree and use it as a walking stick. When he touched the leaves, they suddenly falls off and dry up. As the old man and I approached a dark hollow road, I stop to rest as I conclude I could no longer go.

“Friend” said I, “I can no longer go. I do not care whether that old hag is going to the devil even though I always believe she is will end up in heaven. Why do I want to risk Faith for this old dame?”

“I’ll let you rest” the old man answered, “but when you decide to come, here is my walking stick to guide you.” Without anymore words, the old man left in haste as he disappear into the darkness. Just as I was applauding myself and thinking of the night in Faith’s arm, I heard hoofs tramping closer and closer to where I was. I thought of hiding so that no one can see the guilty conscience on my face of why I was here.

The men did not stop as they pass my hiding place as we all were very invisible in the dark. As I try to evesdrop on the two men, one of them had a voice I recognize. Deacon Gookin and the reverend had a conversion of tonight’s meeting of the communion. They said people out of state is there as well as a young woman taken into the communion. After a short conversation in front of me, the two men left to the meeting where it will not begin without the reverend.

I feel at ease when I got hold of a branch supporting me to get down. As I look up into the sky, I had an unfeeling of whether the heavens exist or not. I said to myself, “As long there is a heaven and Faith, I will fight the devil.” When I was about to pray, a mass of dark clouds fill the blue sky. Then voices came into the picture. I became confused since the sounds of these voices changes from men to women. One voice of a woman stands out as she chants some kind of lamentations, and saints and sinners both are encouraging her. But then that woman’s voice reminds me of Faith. As I shout for Faith, I finds the forest mocking me. From a distance, a scream was drowned immediately by some loud murmurs. I notices something small fluttering above, and when I grab for it, it was the pink ribbons that belongs to my Faith. I pick myself up and at a speed as if I’m floating in the air, my surrounding starts to vanish around me as I approach the heart of darkness.

In Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd”, the old man fascinates the narrator because of his mysterious characteristics that attracts the narrator’s attention. The external appearance of the old man seems unclear to the narrator as he does not fit in just one category. The old man’s clothes look raggy and filthy, but the texture is very beautiful. The old man is looks old to the eyes but he still has the strength to run down a by-street, making the narrator hurrying to catch up. The narrator’s vision of the old man deceives him as he continues to follow the old man since at the end, he could not read the old man. the old man turns out to be a “book that does not permit itself to be read.” Whatever crimes the old man had done, he is an expert of it as he show no signs of guilt.