Dead Poet’s Society and Walt Whitman Essay
Jessica Finne
Ms. Bazinet
Honors English III
30 October 2008
Dead Poet’s Society and Walt Whitman
In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society, Walt Whitman is influenced largely throughout the film. Whitman is a famous poet and many of his poems are referred to or recited during the duration of the movie. Mr. Keating, the new English teacher, teaches the boys in an unusual way compared to the “normal” standard teaching methods at that particular school. He teaches the boys to look at things in a different perspective and to think for themselves. Whitman wrote poetry that was not “normal” compared to other poets during and before the period he lived in. He though for himself and wrote about subjects that seemed “wrong” to publicly display in poem, like homosexuality. In Dead Poet’s Society, the boys go to a male gender only school. Although homosexuality is not mentioned or referred to and heterosexual relationships are present, it seems somewhat ironic for the school to be only occupied by male students. Knox Overstreet was also influenced by Whitman. Whitman wrote about many romantic ideas and topics. Throughout the movie, Knox was interested in a girl. She was already in a relationship, which caused Overstreet to feel hurt and heartbroken. This was another one of Whitman’s many topics in his poetry. In the film, the group recreated by the main characters, the Dead Poet’s Society, was also influenced by Whitman. The group read powerful poems from deceased, famous poets, just as Walt Whitman is.
Through the movie, symbols and motifs are used that can be connected to Whitman or one of his poems. In Whitman’s poems, there are large amounts of imagery used. Since Dead Poet’s Society is a movie, which consists of visual images, looking for a deeper meaning is required. The use of lights is common within the film. Lights symbolize knowledge. Whitman was an intelligent man who had a keen way of putting words together. Lighting imagery appeared in many of his poems. The symbols of crosses also appear frequently throughout the film as well. The crosses symbolize Christ. Whitman was a deist. He did not believe in any one religion but he welcomed all faiths equally. Neil Perry committed suicide in a Christ-like way. It almost seemed as though he was crucified.
Whitman looms large in this film in ways that aren’t so obvious. Looking carefully and having a true understand of Whitman is the key to finding the influence of his poems and his characters in the Dead Poet’s Society.
Add a comment November 2, 2008
Tags: Dead Poet's Society, Walt Whitman
The Crucible essay
Jessica Finne
Ms. Bazinet
Honors English III
30 September 2008
Human weakness and strength figure largely in who John Proctor is as a man, a husband, a citizen, and as a friend. John Proctor is a very strong, major character in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The reader sees many different aspects of John’s personality as he or she progresses through the story. Throughout the story, the reader learns how much John Proctor struggles internally and externally. He tries to be an honest and sincere man but certain occurrences make him weak.
John Procter loves his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, dearly. His sexual desires, however, conquer his strong morals and he has an affair with the Proctor’s servant, Abigail Williams. When Elizabeth finds out of this affair, she immediately fires Abigail but find it in her heart to forgive John. John struggles to “keep his good name” and deal with this “sinful act.”
He knows that Abigail and the other children are pretending that they are being possessed by the devil. He wants to stop it but he cannot. Proctor does not receive the motivation he needs until Elizabeth is accused of having interaction with the devil. After his wife is accused, he convinces, and somewhat manipulates, Mary Warren, one of the children, to tell the court that the children are pretending. This goes wrong, however, and he is accused of contempt of the court. In order to live, he must confess that he has seen the devil. He cannot do this. His “good name” is already gone after confessing to lechery. The emotions inside him, however, of anger, sadness, jealous, and confusion, overtake him and he cannot finish his confession. He cannot sign his name for the whole village to see. It is a lie and he will not post lies. He is no longer strong. He has come extremely vulnerable as he confesses everything he feels. John proctor is then hung but he dies with “his goodness.”
Proctor is a complex character. His strength is admirable but if his conscience is no clear, he finds it hard to be strong. He loves but sometimes his desires get the best of him and he makes poor decisions. He is very intelligent but he does not think everything through before he takes action. His internal conflicts bother him and he only rests peacefully if he does not feel guilty of sin. This is why he agreed to die. He agreed because he would hang with his pride, a clear conscience, and his “goodness.”
1 comment October 1, 2008
Tags: The Crucible
Friends
Laying on the couch,
watching my favorite TV show,
I feel someone’s
presence behind me.
They wrap their arms
around me.
I turn around,
smile, and feel
a kiss on my cheek.
I stand up and
I greet him,
my arms wrapped
around his neck,
he wraps his around my waist,
lifts me up
ever so lightly so
I’m standing on
the tips of my toes and
looking into his eyes.
We smile and
I let out a slight giggle.
Our noses almost touching,
I can feel his breath on my skin.
His smell,
his unique smell,
overwhelms me.
It seems as though
his lips are coming closer to mine.
There is this feeling,
in my stomach
That can only be explain as
Butterflies.
What is happening?
Time is passing.
I’m waiting on his every move.
Then,
he lets go,
takes a step back,
smiling,
asks,
“So, how was your day?”
How was my day?
Is that what he just said?
What were you thinking?
What were you hoping for?
“My day was fine.”
Friends.
Add a comment June 14, 2009
Tags: just friends
Historical Context paper – Author Project
Jessica Finne
Ms. Bazinet
English Honors III
27 April 2009
Where is the Peace?
Joyce Carol Oates, a seventy one year old woman born in 1938, has lived through and experienced many important events in history. Residing in the United States, Oates has learned how conflict arises and the United States’ actions have shown her how to deal with the issues. World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the War on Terror demonstrate what disagreements can do to the relationships between people. This idea is widely expressed in Oates’ writing.
“Love commingled with hate is more powerful than love. Or hate.” In many of Joyce Carol Oates’ pieces of work, an ordinary family or relationship with an internal problem that usually results in some type of violence is the usual setting. In her first novel written in 1964, With Shuddering Fall, is the story of a romance between a young, teenage girl and a thirty-year-old stock car driver. This relationship ends in death caused by an accident. A boy who murders his stepfather and then kills himself is the setting of A Garden of Earthly Delights. Written in 1969, them, follows the lives of the Wendalls, a poor family who live in the riotous Detroit slums. The story tells of the violence they had to endure. Joyce Carol Oates, as she said in the quote above, believes that when love is mixed with negative emotions, it becomes more powerful than anything does. She expresses this through her writing.
Joyce Carol Oates, although having an ordinary childhood and becoming successful, lived, and still lives, through a time of violence, conflict, and confusion. There is no peace in the world and Oates’ writes about the peace that is never among anyone.
Add a comment April 26, 2009
Tags: Joyce Carol Oates, relationships, violence
T.S. Eliot
Jessica Finne
Ms. Bazinet/Ms. Robbins
Honors English III
13 April 2009
Depression in Poetry
Throughout various works of art, including novels, poetry, and playwrights, writers usually incorporate a constant theme throughout the story. Romance, comedy, tragedy, struggle, grief are all universal themes of stories. Even more specifically, certain writers may have an outlying theme that reoccurs throughout multiple works. For instance, T.S. Eliot seems to incorporate the idea of depression or an emotionally heavy subject in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Hollow Men” and ”The Waste Land.” As Penelope Sweet once said, “Depression is nourished by a lifetime of ungrieved and unforgiven hurts.” T.S. Eliot is able to link together “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Hollow Men” and ”The Waste Land” through the idea of depression.
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the reader learns of a man of insecurities, fears and doubts. J. Alfred Prufrock, the main character, narrates his own experience at a party one night. As the poem progresses Prufrock’s weariness and doubtfulness become more apparent. “Do I Dare?” he asks himself in lines 37-46. Prufrock questions enter the room full of people, whether he should “disturb the universe” or just “turn back and descend the stair[s].” It soon becomes obvious why Prufrock has become so fearful and nervous. Tonight he wishes to ask a woman to marry him. In lines 13-14 and lines 35-36, however, Prufrock mocks himself saying that he is neither as interesting nor impressive as the artwork of Michelangelo, which the desirable woman is observing. After gathering up enough courage to approach the women, Prufrock quickly loses faith in himself and just wishes and believe he “should have been a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas” (line 70). Prufrock believes he is good for nothing. By line 118 Prufrock has given up hope and realizes that his chance with the woman has passed by him completely. The disastrous outcome of this encounter lowers his morale even more, making him believe that no goal of his is capable of achieving. The last line of this weary poem, “Till human wake us, and we drown,” could be perceived as the death of his hope but even though the meaning may not be clear, it is clear that the intention of the line is to emphasis the main theme of depression.
Just from the title, “The Hollow Men”, T.S. Eliot gives you an impression of emptiness. The characters are established to be men who have survived traumatizing events of a war. Lines 13-18, “Those who have crossed/With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom/Remember us – if at all – not as lost/Violent souls, but only/As the hollow men/The stuffed men,” implies that the men remember how the war took lives of their friends and enemies. After living and seeing so much death and destruction, the men cannot help but feel empty and lost. T.S. Eliot may even be implying the idea of “Post Dramatic Stress Disorder” which is when traumatic events in a person’s life stick with them and makes it impossible for the person to ever feel whole or completely happy again. All the death and destruction has caused the loss of hope and life in these worn and torn soldiers. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Hollow Men” both incorporate the idea that the loss of hopes prevents happiness and the ability to move on in life.
“The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot focuses on the conflicts of class and world issues. Throughout the poem, multiple speakers express themselves, but all tend to have a depressed tone. The first speaker is depressed about the season changing from winter to spring because winter holds the best memories for her. The second speaker is a very nervous and almost crazy person, who hears noises and feels the need to have someone by her side at all times. ““’My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.’” And “’What is that noise?’ The wind under the door. ‘What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?’ Nothing again nothing.’” (Lines 111, Lines 117-120) The third speaker is upset yet indifferent about situations she has been put in. Even though she did not want to be assaulted by a man, she did not try to get out of the predicament. In the end, the speaker’s situation results in her being in pain and in the state of depression. “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot may have more speakers and situations but the Eliot’s main theme of depression stay strong throughout.
In each of these poems, an unforgiven or ungrieved hurt resulted in depression. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the rejection and insecurities he had always faced in life resulted in his loss of hope. The death and conspiracy in “The Hollow Men” resulted in the feeling of emptiness. Finally, in “The Waste Land,” the destruction of war resulted in nervousness and indifference towards all situations. Depression is a major theme throughout T.S. Eliot’s works.
Add a comment April 12, 2009
Tags: Depression, Insecurity, T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, War
A Streetcar Named Desire Essay [Blanche Dubois: Victim or Victimizer?]
Jessica Finne
Ms. Bazinet
English Honors III
09 March 2009
Blanche Dubois: Victim or Victimizer?
In “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, Blanch is a complex character. Events that have occurred in her past affect how she lives her daily life in the present. Some may see Blanch as a victimizer in her life while others will feel more compassionate towards Blanche and see her as a victim to uncontrollable events in life. Although Blanche’s personality can definitely get her into trouble sometimes, wasteful drinking and provocative sexual intentions, she cannot escape the trauma that occurs from other people’s actions.
The person Blanche is today can be traced back to one day in her past. Within a few hours during this one day, her life would be changed completely. Blanche had walked in on her husband, Allan Grey, in bed with another man. She then went to a bar to drink with her husband and his partner, drunkenly told Allan that she was disgusted with him and heard Allan commit suicide by shooting himself outside the bar he had run out of after hearing Blanche call him disgusting. Any human being would be unstable after so much chaos and shock in such little time. Many argue that because Blanche had called Allan disgusting, he committed suicide and this would make her the victimizer. Allan’s actions toward suicide were completely his own and Blanche could not control them. It is clear that neither Blanche nor Allan could handle the chaos going on at the time and handled it in different ways. Blanche was merely the victim of the horrible situation that affected the love of her life.
Without her beloved, Blanche needed affection. Man after man she would seduce to find attention to mend the hole in her heart. This was not the correct way to handle things and if Blanche had gotten help so she could correctly deal with the pain of her loss, she would not have to seek others. Since Blanche did not have that opportunity, she was forced to deal with it the only way she knew how. Sexual relations with men began to get out of hand. Once one relation was over, there was a new one the next day. This caused her to build a reputation in her small town of Laurel, Mississippi. Knowing she was still hurting from the loss of her husband and the various men could not mend her broken heart, she turned to alcohol as well. Careless drinking and one-night stands caused Blanche to find herself alone with no place to go.
In order to better her life and obtain a new reputation, Blanche decides to start out fresh in New Orleans with her sister, Stella and her husband Stanley. Pretending she is innocent and perfect in order to cover up her flaws back home is not enough as Stanley sees right through her. Stanley uncovers her past and ruins the new life she has begun in New Orleans and is again, back where she started. Blanche is the victim to Stanley’s harsh ways. Even though they had never got along, if Stanley had not uncovered her secrets, she might have started a new, better life. Only making it worse, she becomes the victim of rape to Stanley. If she was not unstable minded before, Blanche was definitely now. Stanley was out of line and should not have treated Blanche the way he did while she was in such an insecure state.
Due to her past and no opportunity to seek healthy help, Blanche became the victim to more events than she had to throughout the course of her life. At the end of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche is sent to mental institution where she will be given serious attention in order for her to cope; this is the institution she should have been sent to the day of the event that changed her life for the worst.
Add a comment March 8, 2009
Tags: A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois
“Nothing Within Can Save Me”
Flannery O’Connor/Southern Gothic Elements Assignment
Sitting. Waiting.
Hiding behind her four walls.
Entrapped in her hiding.
Hardly breathing. Barely Moving.
Listening. Listening for movement.
Was that Him? Her breath stopped.
She didn’t move.
The icy cold floor touching against her soft, innocent skin.
Her mattress above her head;
The bedposts surrounding her…
The darkness suffocating her.
Her mom escaped this evil torture.
The sound of the gun still ringing days after.
“Wished it was me,” she thought.
Stop. What was that? Was it him? Was he home?
Slam. The front door shut. Her heart stopped.
Curling even farther into the corner.
Don’t come up here. He hasn’t found me yet.
Safe. She was safe. Bedroom door locked, in the darkest corner
Of the room. He couldn’t find her.
Footsteps. Followed by silence. Neither of them moved.
“I’m not here, I’m not here….Was that the door knob? No. It’s not turning.”
Thoughts going crazy. Frozen from fear.
It wasn’t her imagination. The door.
Couldn’t open. Locked.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He was there. It wasn’t her imagination.
Trying to crawl away inside her. Turn invisible. He was there.
But she wasn’t. She couldn’t be.
Bang! Bang! Bang! That wasn’t a hand.
A hammer? She didn’t know. It broke the door.
Silence. Followed by no movement.
Her heart stopped. Her breath-gone. Frozen from fear.
He was angry. Breathing heavy. Lead feet as he stormed to the closet.
Bang! Door swung open and hit the wall.
Nothing. No one.
He was enraged. Hammer hit the wall. She saw it crash against the ground in front of her.
He paced. Stopped. She curled up further into herself.
He was right in front of her. His shadow casting where she was.
The only light coming from the hallway.
“Don’t bend down. I’m not under here.”
She heard something. A familiar sound.
What was that? Click.
Then a sigh with an evil laugh to follow.
Oh, no-she knew what was coming.
“Don’t bend down. I’m not under here.”
His left foot moved back as though he were going to kneel.
“Bend down. I’m under here. Put an end to this. I don’t want to feel your touch…it already haunts me in my nightmares.”
His knee. She saw it.
“Wait. Don’t. Don’t bend down. I’m not under here. I have my whole life to live still.”
Two knees. She saw them. Her breath was held, her heart was stopped.
His face. She couldn’t see it but she didn’t need to, It was him.
“Don’t!” she screamed. He grabbed her feet and dragged her out.
She clawed at the bedpost.
His strength was too much.
He yanked her out. She turned over and looked up.
The shadowy figure of her nightmares was above her.
A shiny gun in hand.
The one that took her mom.
The one that took her.
1 comment February 10, 2009
Tags: Abuse, Murder, Southern Gothic Elements
Joyce Carol Oates: A Life of Literature
Jessica Finne
Ms. Bazinet
Honors English III
8 December 2008
Joyce Carol Oates: A Life of Literature
On June 6 1938, Joyce Carol Oates was born in Lockport, New York. There in Lockport, Oates’ parents, Frederic and Caroline owned a farm and raised a family of three children. Growing up in the countryside of New York, Joyce attended school in a single roomed schoolhouse through the elemental school years. Even though reading was taught in school, art was the more fluent language that Oates developed. She drew and painted many beautiful pictures, inventing stories based off her creations.
At the age of 14, Oates imaginative and creative mind was able to create stories and put them on paper, after receiving a typewriter from her parents. At the age of 15, Joyce Carol Oates wrote a surprising first novel about the rehabilitation of a drug addict. Due to the mature content of this book, however, no one would publish it, thinking that it was discouraging for young adult readers. Even though she was a bit discouraged, this minor bump in the road would not stop her, and she continued writing novel after novel all throughout high school.
As high school was coming to a close, Oates received a scholarship to Syracuse University in New York. At Syracuse, she began her thorough studies on English. Throughout college, Oates developed her writing abilities and it eventually paid off when she co-won first place for her fictional stories at a contest sponsored by Mademoiselle Magazine. In 1960, Oates graduated top of her class as valedictorian and moved her schooling to the University of Wisconsin. While attending the University of Wisconsin, she met Raymond Joseph Smith, an English professor who would later become her husband in 1961.
After Joyce Carol Oates earned her Masters Degree at the University of Wisconsin, she continued her studies to earn her doctorate. One day, after hours of tough classes Oates sat down to relax with Best American Short Stories, a collection by Margaret Foley. As she was flipping through the pages looking for a story to read, she came upon one of her own stories. At that moment, she knew that she wanted to pursue a career in writing. By the age 25, in 1963, Joyce Carol Oates published her first book of short stories, By the North Gate.
While continuing her writing career Oates found a job at the University of Detroit. She worked there until 1967 when she and her husband, Raymond, moved to Canada. In Canada, both Joyce and Raymond taught at the University of Windsor. Seven years after moving to Canada, they decided to leave the University of Windsor and go back to the United States. Deciding that balancing a job and a writing career was too much, Oates left the teaching scene for a while so she could focus more on her writing. This break from teaching lasted until she took up a position at Princeton University in New Jersey.
To this day, Joyce Carol Oates and her husband live together in Princeton, New Jersey. She teaches a Creative writing class and helps Raymond edit The Ontario Review, a publishing company they had established in 1974 while still in Canada. Joyce Carol Oates has led a life full of achievement and short stories to be remembered for years.
Works Cited
“JOYCE CAROL OATES Biography”. Advameg, Inc. December 6, 2008
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ni-Pe/Oates-Joyce-Carol.html>.
Oates, Joyce Carol. After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread
my Wings, and Flew Away (Extras Inside). New York, New York: Ontario Review, Inc., 2006.
Add a comment December 22, 2008
Tags: Joyce Carol Oates
My first post! =]
My friends and family mean the world to me. I honestly wouldn’t be anywhere without them. I know they will always be there for me.
But um, yeah…I’m not sure what else to write. I’ll update this as I think of new things and better things and ways to describe myself. =]
Below is something I found online (while I was looking at quotes and pictures online =]) and I love it. I agree with it and I figured I would put it in my “about me” post.
4 comments September 25, 2008
Hello world!
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
1 comment September 22, 2008
