V for Vendetta

       Within the story V for Vendetta by Alan Moore & David Lloyd, the originally-democratic Britain is overtaken by a totalitarian regime in which unlimited power is granted to the only existing fascist party. In order to instigate a revolution to destroy this unjust government, a man who goes by the name of V performs acts of terrorism to discredit the party and encourage the citizens to rebel. Although V has the right intentions - to free the people, he resorts to terrorism as his tool to achieve liberty, which appears to be a controversial manner of thinking. His actions bring about the topic of ethics and the question of "what means truly justify an end?". Although V is eventually successful in his goal towards inciting a rebellion and dismantling the totalitarian government, he ends up killing and sacrificing many lives along the way. Not only that, but he even physically and mentally tortures the woman he cares about so that he could supposedly free her from her bondage to fear. In the end, I have to ask if V had truly chosen the best methods to achieve his purpose, or if he could have utilized a more ethical and less destructive approach.

        Even though V for Vendetta is a comic book, I still believe that it has great educational values and presents a strong description of the characters' emotions due to its inclusion of illustrations. For instance, through chapters 10 and 11 of Book 2, the readers actually get to physically witness the terrible abuse that the female protagonist, Evey, endures during her time in prison where she is interrogated daily about her relationship with V. They can see the true extent of her suffering, the humiliation she bears, and the transformation she undergoes without really depending on words to tell them what is happening. Not only that, but within chapter 12 of Book 2, the readers can understand Evey's shock and confusion at discovering how her time in prison was simply V's creation by just looking at the pictures. Truthfully, I was so astonished by these turn of events that I had to reread the section in order to fully comprehend what had happened. 

        Overall, I felt that this story was a very engaging work of art that conveys many valuable messages; it is definitely a worthwhile piece to teach in classes.

New Approach to Literature

         Within his article, "Graphs, Maps, Trees," Franco Moretti explains the literary field's shift from the close-reading approach to the use of abstract models; specifically, he describes the benefits and drawbacks of using a quantitative approach to literature. In addition, Moretti comments on the popularity of novels and specific genres throughout different countries and time periods and portrays these patterns on the graphs he includes within his paper.

          One of the main benefits of the quantitative approach is its independence from any interpretations or perspectives from people. As a result, the analysis of literature would be solely dependent on actual facts and historical patterns displayed on the graphs, which present data about the literary trends throughout history in a organized and concise manner. From these visual representations, people are able to deduce the relationships between the popularity of a genre and the political situation within a specific country. In addition, the graphs allow for the comparison of different genres and the popularity of literary work in different countries.

         Despite the benefits of this approach, there are also several negative aspects to it as well; specifically, the absence of opinion from the analysis of literary works. Literary novels are meant to inspire different perceptions and meanings in people; the creativity of novels allows for the discovery of new perspectives and understandings of the same story by different people or even the same person after he or she rereads a novel. The literary field is one filled with imagination and should not only be limited to the analysis of patterns throughout history.

         Another interdisciplinary project would be to combine literature with the social aspects of the world. For instance, the popularity of specific genres - or novels in general - rely partly on the prevalent trends or movements during a specific period. Consequently, the relationships between people, different countries, and contrasting cultures all contribute to the varying patterns for literary pieces.

        A new way of approaching Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story would be to analyze the technological trends within our world over different periods of time. By graphing the data that describes the rise and fall of society's use of technology, we could analyze the patterns of how influential technology has been in our society and since when; these results could reveal how technologically dependent people have become.

The Controversial Madame Butterfly

            Madame Butterfly is a unique film that incorporates the issues of gender, ethnicity, politics, and arts within it. Originally, the story of Madame Butterfly began as an opera and depicts the tragic demise of a young Japanese girl who takes her own life after her American husband abandons her. Ultimately, this story demonstrates the conventional belief of Western and male superiority. As the Chinese protagonist within the film explains, if the tale of Madame Butterfly was applied to a Caucasian female and an Oriental man, Westerns would no longer perceive it as a beautiful love story; rather, they would think that the entire situation is ridiculous, which demonstrates the conventional Western belief of superiority above all other ethnicities. However, the makers of the film chose to challenge the typical stereotypes for both gender and ethnicity by portraying a Chinese "woman" as the dominant partner within the relationship between an Oriental and a Caucasian, who eventually commits suicide after losing his love.

             Although it might appear that the European male is in control of the relationship, the Oriental "female" is actually manipulating their entire affair so that she can acquire top-secret information about America's operations in China. As a result, the French protagonist's love for the Chinese opera singer blinds him from seeing the truth - that he is simply a pawn within the political struggles of China and America, which seeks dominance over the eastern nations.

            In addition, the film touches upon the Chinese people's recognition of all arts and the history of arts within China. For instance, despite the Chinese people's immense hatred towards the Japanese, they are still willing to perform pieces that include Japanese people; this demonstrates how the Chinese appreciate all forms of art, despite the country they belong to or describe. However, the film also shows how there was a period of time when artists were persecuted because the government did not believe that they were actually contributing to the advancement of their nation. As a result, artists were forced into manual labor and barred from their original creative occupations.

            Overall, the film does a good job with incorporating the political dilemmas between the East and the West within a controversial, tragic love story.

The Consumer Culture

            Within his newly-released novel, Super Sad True Love Story, Gary Shteyngart conveys a radically embellished portrayal of the consumer culture to demonstrate the world's increasing obsession with manufactured products. Through this depiction, Shteyngart illustrates that as people become more absorbed with consumerism, they begin to lose their own identity and gradually perceive other individuals as mere commercial entities.

            For instance, Lenny begins to experience anxiety-issues about his Credit after returning from Rome and learning about his demotion at work. Through his belief that "money equals life," we can see the extent to which money's role within the world has been magnified (77). Although money has always been a significant factor within a person's life, it has now become the means to which a person can extend his or her life - perhaps even indefinitely; for within the world that Shteyngart creates, even immortality can be achieved by those who have enough money. Despite the wondrous possibility of living forever, the idea that money has become such a valued entity within the world is overwhelming and poses the prospects of many future conflicts between people and different nations.

            Another incident that demonstrates the consequences of a consumer culture is when Lenny first learns how to FAC - form a community. After learning about his incredibly low physical appeal, Lenny is devastated and realizes that "money and credit was about all [he] had" (91). Through his experience at the club, Lenny starts to understand that money is the only reason that girls would be attracted to him. No longer do people really care about personality or individuality, as long as a person is unattractive, money is the only trait that matters.

            Finally, one last example of a consumer culture's effects on society is when Lenny introduces Eunice to his friends. Although Lenny originally believes that Eunice will easily befriend his friends, Grace ends up criticizing Eunice for her complex for money. In response, Lenny argues that "she [only] shops because [the] society is telling Asian people to shop" (162). In addition to revealing Eunice's infatuation with shopping and spending money, this quote also illustrates the depravity of the economy's current state. Due to America's necessary dependence on China, Americans begin to despise Asians for their nation's growing prosperity. As a result, they begin directing their anger at all Asians without even considering the fact that most Asians still live in poverty. Overall, Gary Shteyngart's depiction of the world's consumer culture truly reveals the dangers of materialism and the consequences that can result from an obsession with money.

"All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"

              Richard Brautigan's poem, "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace," contains ambiguous perceptions about Brautigan's opinion of technology. First, with his repetitive use of the phrase "I like to think" at the beginning of every stanza, Brautigan implies that there is a negative relationship between technology and nature (or the world in general). Thus, feelings of sarcasm can be detected as Brautigan continuously emphasizes his wish for "harmony" and "peace" between the two, even though it seems unlikely for that to happen (line 6 & 13 respectively). Not only that, but by incorporating phrases like "and the sooner the better" and "right now, please" in parentheses, Brautigan conveys a sense of urgency within his poem that demonstrates his frustration over technology's incompatibility with nature - possibly because of technology's inevitable harmful effects on the environment.

                On the other hand, Brautigan appears to include a hopeful mood within his poem, which suggests that he does not entirely despise technology. From Brautigan's use of terms like "programming harmony" and "cybernetic forest/ecology," he appears to desire a balance between technology and nature (lines 6, 11, & 19). The poem's feelings of hope could represent the author's wish that scientific achievements would stop contributing to the destruction of Earth. Therefore, although it appears unlikely that a mutually benefitting relationship can exist between nature and technology, Brautigan's poem portrays the possibility of a world in which the they can co-exist.

                Although there is evidence that supports both arguments, I believe that the poem has a more negative attitude towards technology because of the poem's overall tone of mockery. In general, Brautigan chooses to use exaggerations like "cybernetic forest/filled with pines and electronics," which evoke feelings of disbelief and demonstrate that the idea of nature and technology co-existing is unbelievable (lines 12 & 13). Furthermore, with phrases like "pure water" and "clear sky," Brautigan appears to be highlighting a few of the problems that technology has caused in our world (lines 7 & 8). Thus, this whole poem appears to be rather ironic because the author is wishing for the co-existence of technology and nature under nonexistent conditions.

Hidden Imagery

Step 1:

-nuns in convents
-hermits in cells

-students in pensive citadels

-maids at wheel

-weaver at loom

-bees soar

-peak of Furness fells

-foxglove bells

-prison

Step 2:

            The poem I selected to analyze is "The Sonnet" by William Wordsworth. To describe the conveniences of the sonnet's structure, Wordsworth chose to use images of nuns, hermits, students, maids, and weavers, who are depicted within their respective locations or jobs. Although these images appear to be different, they all demonstrate the limitations of these people's lives. His purpose of using these images was to portray how all of these people can be satisfied with their seemingly inadequate lifestyles, and that these people would actually become distressed if they were to be removed from the habits they are accustomed to.

            By illustrating these people's contentment with what they have, Wordsworth conveys his appreciation for the restrictions of writing a sonnet. Despite the fact that most people would view limitations as a burden, Wordsworth explains how they can actually be beneficial to writers. So even though the sonnet's structure has specific requirements, Wordsworth implies how it is easier to write sonnets because they already provide a writer with a rough outline. As a result, he states how complete freedom can actually be even more difficult for writers because there are absolutely no guidelines given.

            Even though Wordsworth uses his imagery to convey how much he appreciates the sonnet's structure, he also disobeys its rules by repositioning the location of the volta and by breaking the rhyming pattern in the last two lines. In addition, Wordsworth chose to use the imagery of bees soaring, which suggests the idea of liberty and contradicts the other images' portrayal of confinement. I believe he uses this imagery of freedom to depict the creativity that all humans possess. Although people can be content with the limitations they are given in life, it does not mean they cannot add new ideas into their lives. For example, bees are also restricted to monotonous jobs of pollinating flowers and making honey, but they are also gifted with the ability to fly, which contradicts the idea of limitations. Thus, I believe that Wordsworth is conveying how the sonnet's structure is a useful guideline for writers, but that innovations can be made for those who are comfortable or experienced enough. 

By Mayday Parade

     Although the band, Mayday Parade, composed this title for one of their songs, I chose to use it as the heading for my second essay in the Western Civilization class I took during the first quarter. The essay topic was to compare and contrast Sigmund Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents and H. Rider Haggard's SHE on their perspectives about civilization and the primitive. In addition, I was required to incorporate the historical background of each author and explain how this affected their opinions.

     After struggling through several ideas, my final thesis portrayed that both authors viewed civilization as superior to the primitive. However, while Haggard primarily focused on the accomplishments made by civilization and the  faults made by the primitive, Freud concentrated on explaining how every civilization would cause some form of suffering to its citizens. The reason for the differences between the two author's opinions was because of the contrasting time periods that they lived in. Haggard lived during the Age of Imperialism, which was filled with optimism and nationalism. Meanwhile, Freud endured the harsh realities of the inter-war period, in which violence, racism, anti-Semitism, and authoritarian regimes flourished.

     The reason I chose this title as a heading for my first blog was because I was really proud of my essay. Although writing is usually not one of my strengths, I felt that I had done remarkably well for this particular essay. Despite my inability to break free from the 5-paragraph structure used throughout middle school and high school, I was finally able to experiment with new forms of writing and to expand my writing skills. Though writing is still difficult for me, I was glad to realize that I had improved.