Choose a quotation from the section you are reading, post the quotation and discuss its relevance in two ways, either:
- historical-political references,
- the power of the language (imagery or poetic devices etc.),
- in terms of the ideals of Romanticism or the era,
- the quotation's symbolic meaning,
- its purpose such as a flashback or foreshadowing or character development.
- If you have another area you think is relevant, use that as a heading and go for it!
Your fifth reflection is due on Monday, November 30.
PS. Two more to go so adjust your reading for this. Thank you for being flexible.
2 comments:
Gulliver is now in the Houyhnhnms, and I think this chapter by far is the most interesting one. I particularly liked this chapter because they are more positive. The whole book is really satirical and is very mimicking. Tbis chapter, however, I didn't sense any satire or criticizing, I saw it as a more positive chapter that shows Swift's idea of an ideal society. The Houyhnhms represent, I think, of all things, mostly reason and virtue. I think these two characteristics are basically what they base their order in society on. By operating on reason and virtue, this country has no major problems like disease, crime, shortages, etc. As opposed to the other societies he visited, the citizens here are the opposite of being caught up with their own lives-they live for the good of others and of society.He also describes how these people are basically emotionless-they don't have an emotional life besides "treating others with respect". They had difficulty understanding falsehood, and lying and not beleiveing, as "the inhabitants cannot tell how to behave themselves under such circumstances" and "had much difficulty in comprehending what I [Gulliver] meant"(259). This to me showed that as ideal as this society is- that everything is based on what is and the truth, it isn't really human-it can't be a human society.
These chapters reminded me of Brave New World, and how society functioned in that book. People all lived for the good of society, they were trained to love their class, and they were all robotic. I saw a similarity in this society. Both seem ideal, where there is no disease, shortages, or plagues, and all problems humankind faces are solved. Also, these peoples expelled Gulliver because they saw him as a "yahoo" or an outsider. Gulliver didn't quite fit in with these people, and his way of thinking and the way he spread his ideals (like when describing the English government and constitution) got him kicked out of the houyhnhnms. Similarly, John didn't fit in with the "Brave New World" society, and he was always challenging the beliefs and functioning of that society. Of course, these two pieces were written in very different time periods with different problems happening, but I thought it was interesting and I could draw a parallel
I think he included these people's ways of lives as such to as something to copy, to emulate. Swift had already criticized the egocentrism of the Enlgish and the English government, so in a way he is proposing that people try to live for the good of others, and not for the good of only themselves. During Swift's time, there was a lot of instability and inequality (also evident in his Modest Proposal) where people were self serving and greedy.
Tale of Two Cities, Ch. 13-18
It is definitely Dickens’s characters that have kept me reading this book. The story is interesting, and the language striking (if a little overdone), but it is the characters that make it worthwhile. Each person taking part in this book, regardless of how small a part that may play, is so much more than they seem. I had mentioned before that I saw a character of greater depth in Mr. Carton than originally presented, and I was proven right in chapter 13. He is a walking contradiction, desperately trying to separate himself from the rest of society, and yet desperately yearning for Miss Manette’s love. Jerry Cruncher’s character has taken a larger role in these chapters as well, although he remains quite simple. He seems to me as the comic relief of the story, a fact which is in turn contradicted by his moonlighting as a ¨Resurrection-Man¨ (Dickens 165). It seems that all of Dickens’s characters are filled with contradictions. However, the most interesting character by far is that of Madame Defarge.
Mr. Defarge is not wrong when he describes his wife as ¨a great woman, a strong woman, a grand woman, a frightfully grand woman!¨ (Dickens 188). Dickens does indeed present her as a sight to behold. Her calm and calculating manner, the way she steadily knits without betraying any of her innermost thoughts to even the most attentive of observers, and the way seems to always be in command of the situation set her up as the most formidable of women. In the way she reassures her husband about their plans’ success, the reader can see her wisdom: ¨It does not take a long time for an earthquake to swallow a town… when it is ready, it takes place, and grinds to pieces everything before it. In the meantime, it is always preparing though it is not seen or heard¨ (Dickens 180). However, there is also a sense of bloodthirsty vengeance in Madame Defarge, which is subtly introduced by Dickens along with her apparent wisdom. It is clear that her wish to eliminate the entire French aristocracy is very great, and that she would stop at nothing to achieve her goals. In fact, it seems as though she yearns for a chance to murder those who have oppressed her. I’m anxious to see the lengths to which she goes in order to achieve this.
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