Hunger blog
Hunger Blog
Straddling the two different cultures, the family has struggled to achieve a balance of remembering and trying to forget about the losses and gains after starting life on a foreign country. Min sits aside with quivering insight while she watches things happen in the family as a result of her husband’s unfulfilled desires and as a result, her children’s rebellion towards them both. They severed themselves from the past life in in attempts to build a better future elsewhere. I am sympathetic with Tian, all he knows how to love is his music. It is the only thing he has left of his culture. He says in the novel that “Everyone has things they want to do in their lives. But sometimes there is only one thing-one thing that a person must do. More than what he was told to do, more than what he is trained to do. Even more than what his family expects him to do. It is what he hungers for.” He has no idea how to do love anything or anyone else. He escaped China by swimming across the waters into a boat to America. He is refused a permanent and stable job as a teacher at a music school. Because of his sense of failure, this stifles the relationship with his daughters: Anna and Ruth, one of whom ran away after being heartlessly pressured into mastering the violin. He works hard to find out what it takes to survive and thrive in America. He tries to forget the past to move further into the future and not being able to succeed in his music shatters his life, family and dream. The novel shows flashes of disappointments that devour the heart of the family. It shows the experiences of immigrants and their families. The day Tian died his last words were about him and his goals and dreams. His character is to be sympathized with because of the culture he came from. He was strictly devoted to being successful, as everyone desires to be. He shows ignorance because he was inept as a father and husband.
The Metamorphosis
In the metamorphosis, as the title suggests shows the changes which occurred in the Samsa family. Physical, social and emotional changes are seen, especially with Gregor, the main character. A metamorphosis is a significant change and Gregor’s demise is ironically a significantly good change for his family. His demise was a catalyst to his family’s development. Ironically, but his situation was changed, but for the worst, to the family the better. Grete, the loving one to Gregor during his metamorphosis was the first to turn against him. But while Grete's position within the family was coming to notice, her relationship with Gregor deteriorates. When Grete received a job as a salesgirl she pays less attention to her brother, she “no longer took thought of what he might need” because the same stress that took toll on Gregor is what is taking a toll on her and she cannot handle it, she did not have the time to give him as much attention that she used to give to him because of the frustration that she was now facing having to take care of him and working.
Grete now has the feeling that the family has done all they could to help Gregor’s metamorphosis so it would be impossible for anyone to say they did not help. She said that they “tried to look after it and to put up with it as far as is humanly possible”. She also feels as though Gregor is an economic burden and leeching off of them because he is unable to work and help them or himself. She feels as if taking care of him as another full-time job with the one that she has except she is not getting paid. Disgusted by his state and presence, Grete now views Gregor as more of a creature than her brother. She mentioned, "I won't utter my brother's name in the presence of this creature”. Continuously referring to him as a creature with acknowledgements as "it” which shows she totally gave up on him. After Mr. Samsa and the rest of the family heard that Gregor died, this was his response, “We can thank God for that!” this shows that he was anticipating the day that this would happen and the rest of the family was overjoyed. The death of Gregor brought a feeling of freedom to the family. The family's situation has changed over time since Gregor's metamorphosis. His father, who did not have strength, now regains strength and is able to work because Gregor is now useless to them. His mother now took on sewing as her job and Grete; his sister found herself a job as a salesgirl. They now were able to hire someone to work for them, but weren’t able to do it before. This shows that even though he at one point was literally the head of the house, his family still did not have an interest in him they only wanted to slave him. His death opened their eyes to a realization that they really did not need him to provide for them because all of them could have done it a long time ago. The family “decided to spend the day in resting and going for a stroll”. This shows that money played a big role in the family. They used Gregor for his money.
In the first section, we also begin to learn the details of Gregor’s human life. We see a glimpse of how alienated he felt. As Gregor lies in bed, unable to get himself up, he begins thinking of his job as a traveling salesman, and we learn that he only continues at it because of his parents’ debt. In fact, he greatly dislikes the office manager, who has come to the house to check on him. In addition, his friendships were always casual and never intimate because he travels all the time. He is now a bug and in his new form, he is unable to go to work, and his voice is so transformed along with his physical change that he can’t even communicate with those around him. We see events that lead up to his death. Every time he goes among the family, he gets hurt which acts as a catalyst to his death.
In the second section Gregor adapts to his new life while the family goes out to find jobs. There is improvement on both sides. The father throws the fruit at Gregor and hits him hard. This speeds up his death also. It pained him to know that his own family would treat him this way. We learn of the family’s financial situation and understand how money shapes the relationships in the Samsa family. In the third section, we see Gregor’s and fatal injury, which limiting his mobility. The family takes pity on him and chooses to leave the bedroom door open at night so Gregor can watch them. They realize he was at his final stage.
There was humor when his father threw apples at him. It is a sad, but a ridiculous reaction. It was also funny when he was in his bed and realizes he's a bug and doesn't freak out or anything. He starts crawling all over the ceiling and hanging from the ceiling. He started embracing his new form. The gap between the content and the form of the story creates an extraordinary tension. When Gregor starts moving his little legs as he wakes up in his new state is funny. The situation is very bizarreness but it is so in a dark way. Gregor never gets it. At first, he never knew what to do with himself. When he realizes he was a bug, he asked what the time was, and then wanted to put on his suit. This is crazy as a bug can’t fit in a suit.
One Blog Post
As the title states, the city is one of experience rather than innocence. All the youth and livelihood is taken from the hearts of the Dubliners. The quote, The thoughts and youth of the past are dead, just like those who have passed on but their memories still linger in the hearts and mind of those at the party. The people who have died seem to play an important part in the novel. The dead may refer to the whole Irish culture. Gabriel realizes that the traditions were dying and it kills him as a person. He doesn’t feel as if he can do as he wants but does it anyway. We an example of the society being close minded when Mr. Brown talks of the monks who “never speak, get up at two in the morning, and sleep in their coffins.” This highlights the leaders or highly held persons in the society. People always refer to dead bodies as being cold and grave. The people in the novel have characteristics of dead people. There is no room for hope or anything new to accomplish. The people of the society seem to become stagnant. Like a river that runs, then stops running, collecting dead objects or dead leaves. They have experienced youth and life already and therefore they know all that they think is necessary. The society becomes like the snow that falls outside. It is first light and innocent but after a few days, become a cold and harsh thing. It stifles life from the earth and hardens the hearts of those around. Joyce writes that the “trees were weighted with snow”. This shows the heavy hearts that the people of Dublin carry around. The snow may bring forth opportunities of creativity and youth but after staying on the ground for a few days, bring misery and death. The death of an existence! The people seem to be losing their existence to the point where they don’t know the difference between the living and the dead. The snow in the novel falls upon both the living and the dead. It goes to show that both the people, who are at the party and those who have gone on before, are the same. They have become stagnant and therefore cannot make room for growth and life.
Gabriel may represent how Joyce feels about the Irish culture. From Gabriel’s character, it can be gathered that he did not accept the social norms or cared to follow them. The party, I’m assuming is to celebrate life! Amidst all whom they had lost, they come to celebrate another chance at life together. Gabriel represents Joyce’s rebellion to the society and refers to their existence as being “dull existence together and remember only their moments of ecstasy”- 94. As a writer, is able to show his emotions and express his feelings in different ways. Gabriel was not expected to express how he truly feels about the culture so he found another outlet. He escaped the conformity of Ireland by going to another place. Joyce found his outlet by creating his own place, by writing. The culture caused Gabriel to think about his existence, and we can see, feels trapped by his own personality. Gabriel finds difficulty in communicating with women, who represent the Irish culture. Joyce may have had problems communicating to the people similarly. It makes him unsure of how to respond and behave. He struggles with the idea of being free and embracing tradition.
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The Dead
As the title states, the city is one of experience rather than innocence. All the youth and livelihood is taken from the hearts of the Dubliners. The quote, The thoughts and youth of the past are dead, just like those who have passed on but their memories still linger in the hearts and mind of those at the party. The people who have died seem to play an important part in the novel. The dead may refer to the whole Irish culture. Gabriel realizes that the traditions were dying and it kills him as a person. He doesn’t feel as if he can do as he wants but does it anyway. We an example of the society being close minded when Mr. Brown talks of the monks who “never speak, get up at two in the morning, and sleep in their coffins.” This highlights the leaders or highly held persons in the society. People always refer to dead bodies as being cold and grave. The people in the novel have characteristics of dead people. There is no room for hope or anything new to accomplish. The people of the society seem to become stagnant. Like a river that runs, then stops running, collecting dead objects or dead leaves. They have experienced youth and life already and therefore they know all that they think is necessary. The society becomes like the snow that falls outside. It is first light and innocent but after a few days, become a cold and harsh thing. It stifles life from the earth and hardens the hearts of those around. Joyce writes that the “trees were weighted with snow”. This shows the heavy hearts that the people of Dublin carry around. The snow may bring forth opportunities of creativity and youth but after staying on the ground for a few days, bring misery and death. The death of an existence! The people seem to be losing their existence to the point where they don’t know the difference between the living and the dead. The snow in the novel falls upon both the living and the dead. It goes to show that both the people, who are at the party and those who have gone on before, are the same. They have become stagnant and therefore cannot make room for growth and life.
Gabriel may represent how Joyce feels about the Irish culture. From Gabriel’s character, it can be gathered that he did not accept the social norms or cared to follow them. The party, I’m assuming is to celebrate life! Amidst all whom they had lost, they come to celebrate another chance at life together. Gabriel represents Joyce’s rebellion to the society and refers to their existence as being “dull existence together and remember only their moments of ecstasy”- 94. As a writer, is able to show his emotions and express his feelings in different ways. Gabriel was not expected to express how he truly feels about the culture so he found another outlet. He escaped the conformity of Ireland by going to another place. Joyce found his outlet by creating his own place, by writing. The culture caused Gabriel to think about his existence, and we can see, feels trapped by his own personality. Gabriel finds difficulty in communicating with women, who represent the Irish culture. Joyce may have had problems communicating to the people similarly. It makes him unsure of how to respond and behave. He struggles with the idea of being free and embracing tradition.
Daisy Miller
Throughout the novel, Winterbourne obsesses over the question whether Daisy is a ‘nice’ girl or not and her behavior never reveals whether or not she is. Winterbourne tries to make her aware of the effect her behavior has on her country’s reputation but she refuses to listen. She lacks self- respect so she does not bother to change any of her ways to fit the setting she is in. The saying, “When in Rome, acts as the Romans do”, comes in handy in this novel. Daisy does not bother to learn about the culture she has entered into. The actions and things she says has insulted and bashed the culture of Europeans. Her flirtatiousness is frowned upon by many such as Mrs. Walker and Mrs. Costello. She is seen as being shameless and free spirited for a young lady. This novel shows traditional values where Daisy is the outsider and shows prejudice that is present between both cultures.
I realize that her name, Daisy quite fits her personality. She is always blooming and contrasts Winterbourne which is ironic because a daisy blooms in the springtime but dies in the winter. A daisy shows its beauty, is there for the purpose of decorating or just making the day brighter. It makes life more vivid and colorful. She is a wild flower that could not survive the harsh world of prejudice. She was an outsider in the country because it is symbolic of a Daisy’s misfit in the winter. The country is restricting and not a place to expand or explore. Then when Daisy dies, Winterbourne recognizes the worth of her existence and then gets to appreciate her vibrant spirit. A person cannot appreciate the beauty and life of a flower till it disappears during the winter and comes back after a long harsh winter.
I like Daisy. She teaches others to live beyond criticism and still enjoy life. She is an example of someone who loves who they are and who does not change because of social pressures. Even though she was lacking in manners and some etiquette, she remained true to who she was. She did not succumb to the norms and expectations of society.
Life
Last updated 6 April 2012 at 14:44
I wonder why certain persons have to go through so many hardships while there are those who just slide along life easily. It's so hard trying to do the good things and so easy to do bad....