Literary Analysis #4

A Christmas Carol: by Charles Dickens


GENERAL
1. In this book Ebenezer Scrooge is living a horrible life. He's not honest with those around and doesn't quite live a happy life. So one night he is visited by three ghosts: ghost of Christmas past, present, and yet to come. On each visit they show a glimpse of what Scrooge's life was, is, and will be like. Scrooge is confounded and scared and doesn't really know what to make of it. He however looks within himself and finds the true spirit of Christmas.
2. I believe the theme of this book is to learn from your past in order to change your present and gain a better future. Scrooge had somewhat of a happy childhood, but as he grew up he became dark and aloof. He was not an honest man, and didn't associate with them either considering who his partner was. However once the ghost of Christmas yet to come showed Scrooge that he will eventually die with nobody by his side he realized what an idiot he was being by being so distant and dishonest. He changed his ways to have the hope that a brighter future would be his.
3. The tone the author used came across as comical to me. I thought it was hilarious that in the beginning of the story he was so set making sure that we knew Scrooge's partner, Marley, was dead. He even made allusions to Hamlet to make us believe, as if we wouldn't have! “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.” The author made Scrooge a cold person, but he wrote in a way so that we didn't think of the whole story as dark and 'unreadable'.
4.

• allusion: referenced Hamlet in the beginning so the audience would believe Marley was dead
• analysis: obviously showed when breaking up the different Christmas' to see how Scrooge was
• analogy: when Dickens wrote that Marley was as dead as a door nail
• argumentation: Dickens was able to make the audience believe Marley was dead with truth
• denouement: wrote that Scrooge made up with his family and treated Tiny Tim as his own
• evocation: used with the ghost of Christmas past brought Scrooge to his past
• imagery: author used great details to explain each situation
• motif: a ghost, different each time but fighting for the same cause
• poignant: audience feels when it's learned that Scrooge dies alone
• suspension of disbelief: were the ghost always perceived as real?

CHARACTERIZATION
1. Direct: "External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him." & "Scrooge, referring to Marley's ghost which he believes is a hallucination from food poisoning." These quotes show that Scrooge isn't really affected by anything. He stays who he is and isn't really open to anything else.
Indirect: "Scrooge returned. 'It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly.'" & " "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy." These quotes show the growth that Scrooge goes through. He begins without a care in the world besides his own of course and then how he changes for those around him and show the spirit of the holiday.
2. The author is basically always focused on who Scrooge is and what he does with his life so the syntax and diction doesn't change all that much. He used language not many of us use today, but it was easily understandable. The author's use of adjectives was very high as well because he often explained everything in great detail to really get the feel of the story.
3. Ebenezer Scrooge is definitely a round, dynamic character. There really wouldn't be much of a story without him being this way. If he had stayed the cold, cynical person he was after the journey with the ghosts, then we would know where he would end up, dead and alone. This is not how a Christmas story should be told so the author had him grow up and become a man that truly lives his life so we can picture a better future for him.
4. After reading this book I feel like I read a character. This is how I feel when I read most stories, unless I get so caught up that I find myself wanting to meet them. Scrooge turned out to be a great guy, but he is not necessarily someone I need in my life so I find myself at a distance when thinking about his character.

Thinking Outside the Box

1) Think about the place you have chosen as your hell. Does it look ordinary and bourgeois, like Sartre's drawing room, or is it equipped with literal instruments of torture like Dante's Inferno? Can the mind be in hell in a beautiful place? Is there a way to find peace in a hellish physical environment? Enter Sartre's space more fully and imagine how it would feel to live there endlessly, night and day:

I can picture my own personal hell in two ways. One being in a dark, torture chamber with fire all around because that would simply scare me like crazy. However I can also picture a room that has no doors and inside with me are people that I simply cannot stand or have wronged me in the past. (I'm a grudge-holder so being around people that have been mean to me in a way that I can't forget would be unbearable.) Honestly in my way of thinking I probably won't be able to find peace in a horrible environment. I take in what's around me and if everything around is bad and dark then in a sense I would become that way too.

2) Could hell be described as too much of anything without a break? Are variety, moderation and balance instruments we use to keep us from boiling in any inferno of excess,' whether it be cheesecake or ravenous sex?

I suppose hell can be perceived as this, but I wouldn't find my hell to be like that. Every year for the past four years I have attended dance classes ten hours per week and I love it. This being my passion could never be my hell. Now if I was stuck in school for the rest of my life this would be a different story...

3) How does Sartre create a sense of place through dialogue? Can you imagine what it feels like to stay awake all the time with the lights on with no hope of leaving a specific place? How does GARCIN react to this hell? How could you twist your daily activities around so that everyday habits become hell? Is there a pattern of circumstances that reinforces the experience of hell?

I could never imagine not being able to sleep and find peace within the darkness because sometimes I like just being alone. Being stuck is not any way I would want to live...or not live considering these characters are dead. My activities become hell simply if I decide within myself that I'm not going to enjoy doing it. This is a dumb way to go about life. One has to look forward and see what will come so as to get past the less exciting chores without dragging them out and making them boring.

4) Compare how Plato and Sartre describe the limitations of our thinking and imply solutions to the problem. Be sure to analyze their literary techniques, especially their use of allegory and extended metaphor.

They seem to tell us that we only know what we see, and that instead of this we must look beyond to find truth. (This reminds me of Lion King 1 1/2 when Rafiki tells Timon to look beyond what he see's in order to find his dream home and happiness.) They explain that we have to break out of our shells and really take a look at life in order to grow and gain knowledge.

Literature Analysis #3

Les Misérables

Allegory of the Cave Sonnet

The prisoners lived in darkness,
Unable to see the truth.
They accept the shadows in front of them,
Not looking for true meaning.
One changes his gaze,
And finds his way out.
Outside he is confused,
But the light soon speaks to him.
He learns of life,
And the way it should be lived.
To his people he returns,
To explain his new knowledge,
But they push him away,
So instead of things being clear, they’re gray.

---Apparently I did this wrong because it doesn't rhyme or is in iambic pentameter. I don't remember Preston saying this, but just so you're aware, I know.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

Abby Kuhlman and I collaborated to answer these questions.

1. According to Socrates, what does the Allegory of the Cave represent?
The allegory of the cave deals with the relationship between ignorance and enlightenment and charts the path to becoming a philosopher: one with a greater understanding of the world around him. The prisoners in the cave know only of the tip of the iceberg while the philosopher can see everything below the surface as well. There is more to everything that we perceive and this will only be apparent if you exit the cave.

2. What are the key elements in the imagery used in the allegory?
The cave itself, prisoners, light/darkness, and the shadows.

3. What are some things the allegory suggests about the process of enlightenment or education?
The path to becoming enlightened can be painful to someone who has lived with such a narrow view of the world. The influx of new information will be immense and almost inconceivable and this causes us to turn from it and try to seek what we had once known as true (when you feel blinded by the light so you look away to the darkness). Eventually we become accustomed to the light and realize that the shadows on the walls (our narrow-mindedness) were far different than from what actually made them.

4. What do the imagery of "shackles" and the "cave" suggest about the perspective of the cave dwellers or prisoners?
The shackles and cave suggest that the prisoners are being forced into their ignorance. also, that if they were given the choice, the prisoners would turn and go to to the light. however they are prevented of doing so by the shackles.

5. In society today or in your own life, what sorts of things shackle the mind?
The media which provides a biased and distorted view of the truth. They force us to believe one thing when in reality the truth is something completely different.

6. Compare the perspective of the freed prisoner with the cave prisoners?
Well it seems that the freed prisoner learns of a new sense of reality when he was released. He saw what was true and actually in front of him, not merely shadows on a wall. However the cave prisoners cannot be called ignorant because they don't know any better. All their lives they knew of the strange beings that appeared in front of them and were never given the opportunity to explore.

7. According to the allegory, lack of clarity or intellectual confusion can occur in two distinct ways or contexts. What are they?
Lack of clarity and confusion occurred when the prisoners only saw the shadows and were unable to see what the actual object was. They couldn't look beyond and therefore couldn't learn to see the true meaning behind what they saw. This gave them no way of understanding.

8. According to the allegory, how do cave prisoners get free? What does this suggest about intellectual freedom?
Cave prisoners become free when they are released to the outside world. They learn the true nature of things and adapt to the reality that comes. This then leads to their intellectual freedom because knowledge is finally being gained. No longer would they be sitting staring at images on walls and not knowing how they were actually being produced.

9. The allegory presupposes that there is a distinction between appearances and reality. Do you agree? Why or why not?
Appearances are never true to reality, they are mirages we create to fit in and conform to a society that demands a certain picturesque image. It is why we always say never judge a book by its cover: the outer self does not always match up with the inner.

10. If Socrates is incorrect in his assumption that there is a distinction between reality and appearances, what are the two alternative metaphysical assumptions?
I think that an alternate would be if reality was to be based off of our intuition. Therefore what we think, how we act, and what we want can all be related together with what our lifestyle is like. Also assumptions can be made and lead us toward different paths, but it's still our decision to be who we are and continue learning the unknown.

Reciting 'Sonnet 43'

Reciting 'To Be or Not To Be'