Duality of Man

Author’s Note – Seeing as how the entire last chapter of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was about duality, I thought it would be a good topic to write about. I believed that the whole essence of duality according to Stevenson was that we all have a primal, bestial side that due to our roots as animals. However, society does not accept that, and in order to conform to society we must behave and act well. Jekyll’s struggle is not that he is afraid of Hyde, he is afraid of people finding out that he is Hyde.


I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two. This one sentence sums up the entirety of Stevenson’s message from this novel, that hidden beneath the barriers, lies and deceit in every human being there is an inner struggle being fought; good vs evil, right vs wrong, light vs dark. On the surface, Dr. Jekyll seems to be the epitome of a successful man, a large home, servants, and a close group of friends; a life anybody would desire. And yet, despite living a seemingly perfect life, Jekyll was going through the same struggles that we all go through, trying to make the right decisions in his life and be the model human being. However, the weight of the struggle that had been raging inside of him became too much to bear, and he cracked. The side of Jekyll that nobody had ever seen, the terrible maniacal side that he had spent years hiding came pouring out, unleashing its evil on the world.

Once Hyde had been released, Jekyll slowly began to lose his grip on his own identity, until he was unable to even control when he was himself, leading to his death. The temptation and power of this animalistic side combated the purity and social acceptance of the good side, feeding the flames of an everlasting struggle that burns not only in Jekyll, but all of us. It was the curse of mankind that in the agonized womb of consciousness, these polar twins should be continuously struggling.

Doors and Barriers

Author’s Note – Throughout the whole novel, doors have been a constantly recurring motif and they seem to come up in critical points in the story such as when Utterson is breaking down the door to Jekyll’s laboratory.


We are all guilty of putting up barriers in our life, pushing people out of our life who care about us and isolating ourselves even further. We hide our true identity behind these barriers, hoping that the image we project can conceal our real feelings. Dr. Jekyll is as guilty of this as anybody else. Rather than confide his true feelings to somebody else, his inner rage builds and builds until it boils over and manifests itself as a separate being, Mr. Hyde. Jekyll builds up his barriers, and begins to alienate himself from his closest friends in order to conceal Hyde, and protect his image. Jekyll not only builds up his emotional barriers, but his physical barriers, transforming into Hyde only when he’s behind locked doors. Stevenson is showing us that barriers not only prevent us from forming new relationships, they destroy the ones that we already have.

Lanyon's Death

Author’s note: I decided to write about whether it’s better to know the truth or stay in the dark because of Lanyon’s quick demise after he learned about Jekyll.


We all crave knowledge that we can’t have. This hunger to know everything about the world and what’s going on can lead to great discoveries, but in the case of Dr. Lanyon, this curiosity led to his demise. Like everybody else, Lanyon was greatly interested in Mr. Hyde, the mysterious man who had captivated London. However, unlike most others, Lanyon went far enough to try and learn Hyde’s dark secrets, essentially selling himself to the devil to try and learn what happened. However, the knowledge was too terrible for Lanyon, and he soon appeared as if his flesh had fallen away; he was visibly balder and older. The truth about Hyde was the direct cause of his downfall, and at the end of the chapter, Utterson is gripped with the same desire to learn more, but resists knowing that the knowledge is too terrible to know. The author is conveying the message that while the truth can be the light to illuminate our life and understanding of the world, sometimes it is better to be left in the dark, for the knowledge is not meant for us to know.

Light vs Dark

Author's Note - While I was reading pages 48-49 I noticed a lot of references to light and dark while Utterson was trying to find out more about Hyde, and I decided to write about how light and dark can be used to describe the truth and what we have yet to learn.

Driven crazy about his lack of knowledge on Hyde, Utterson sets out on a quest to find out as much as he can about Jekyll's mysterious beneficiary. This thirst for knowledge begins one night as Utterson is lying in bed, pondering about why Dr. Jekyll would give Hyde his downfall. And as he lay and tossed in the gross darkness of the night and the curtained room... While Utterson is literally lying in the dark of the night, metaphorically he is lying in the darkness of the absence of truth. If he could but once set eyes on him, he thought the mystery would lighten and perhaps roll altogether away... If Utterson is allowed but a glimpse of Hyde and a chance to understand his true character, the truth would bring light to the dark recesses of decietfulness that had taken root in his mind. When Utterson confronts Hyde outside of his house, the scene is described as being, a fine dry night; the frost in the air; the street as clean as a ballroom floor; the lamps, unshaken by any wind, drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow. The street lamps of the city of London not only illuminate the scene, but allow Utterson a clear look at Hyde's face, providing an answer to Utterson's question. The second part of the sentence highlights the struggle between truth and deception of which we have all taken a part in. A regular pattern of light and shadow accurately describes Utterson's position, he is equally unaware of just what is going on as much as he is aware. In the end, however, the light won out, and Utterson learned at least part of the truth, no matter how small.

English Short Story

The tires screeched and the alarms blared as car came to a skidding halt, finally ending its hellish ride upside down next to the base of a tall tree. The man staggered out of the car as it burst into flames, the fireball shooting its orange tendrils skyward. He collapsed in a heap next to a nearby tree as another car burst into a similarly brilliant explosion nearby, extinguishing the cries for help in the car in a flash. Off in the distance, the sirens blared as the man laid his head and against the tree and shut his eyes, the oncoming darkness providing a welcome break from his pounding headache.


As Dan groggily opened his eyes, the pounding sensation of bright, sterile lights beat down on him and while the steady beeping of various medical devices provided a rhythmic background. Dizzy and disoriented, he sat up, only to be knocked down by a sudden wave of nausea. For the life of him, Dan could not remember where he was or how he had ended up there. As he laid there, attempting to piece together the various parts of his memory back together, scattered events from last night began to trickle into memory. Dan remembered a car spinning out, a woman screaming, and a bright, vivid explosion, followed by pure darkness.

That couldn’t have been what happened. Dan vividly remembered leaving work that night, exhausted after another day of working overtime at his job as a quality assurance manager. Money had been tight around his house lately, and as a result, he was forced to extra hours in order to keep up with the tuition payments for his kid’s college. Dan had been tired recently, on account of his extra hours, but he was surely a good enough driver to make it home, a route he had driven hundreds of times, without crashing. It was probably just a movie that he had watched last night and was having a bad dream about.

As Dan began to take in his surroundings, his nausea settling down, a couple things caught his eye. A newspaper resting on his bedside table blared out from its headline DEADLY CAR CRASH 3 KILLED, and a clipboard at the foot of his bed with Alexian Brothers Hospital emblazoned on the back. That must be why Dan had no recollection of what happened last night. He must have had one of his seizures and blacked out at home, also explaining why he was in the hospital. Despite finally knowing where he was, the newspaper headline was what intrigued Dan more. As he flipped the newspaper open to the page, images of two mangled, smoking wrecks of cars greeted him, one of them being a black Toyota just like the one he drove. It was nothing more than a strange coincidence. Black Toyotas like that were extremely common, and the more that Dan looked at the picture, the less it looked like an area that he drove in often.

Dan put the newspaper down and flipped on the TV, hoping to pass the time with some mindless activity. A news report came on, the reporter standing next to the scene of that same car crash, the trees about her rustling in the wind. As the reporter began to list off the names of the victims, Dan listened with a growing apprehension as his memory of last night began to form clearly in his head. This anxiety was not quite the anxiety associated with the fear of being caught – and yet there was little that Dan could otherwise define it as. The voice of the newswoman faded into the cadence of the background as Dan finally began put together the pieces of his shattered memory. He had finally left work at 11, and set off on his drive home. He began to drift off behind the wheel, but it was only a ten minute drive home and he could surely make it. As he began rounding a bend, the full force of his sleep deprivation hit him, and he began dozing off behind the wheel, his foot applying more pressure to the accelerator as his body went limp. A pair of bright headlights suddenly cut into his view and both cars slammed into each other, but not before Dan stared into the terrified faces of the other car, 2 children among them.

When Dan initially recognized his responsibility – for it could hardly be interpreted as less – his shame and guilt was palpable. He killed three people. No justification could excuse him from the simple fact that he was responsible for the deaths of three people. Underneath the heaviness of guilt such as this, the remaining desire to live inside me submitted. Still dazed by his realization, Dan reached up and removed his oxygen mask.



This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil – and yet I should be at a loss otherwise to define it.

When I first beheld this apparition – for I could scarcely regard it as less – my wonder and my terror were extreme.

Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed.

The Power and the Glory essay

Posted in essay blog.

The Mestizo

Author's Note - a response to the novel The Power and the Glory

The mestizo. A man with no conviction in life and a man with no sense of purpose in life. The priest encounters the mestizo while attempting to make his way to Carmen, his hometown. Although wary of the mestizo, the priest's conviction prevails, and he lets the mestizo follow him. While they rest in the hut, the mestizo reveals himself as a Judas figure to the priest. Like Judas, he attempts to convince the priest that he is a man of God, a man worthy enough to be a disciple. The priest is not fooled by the mestizo's lies, and realizes that he just wants to turn in the priest for 700 pesos, a meager reward for a person of such value. That part also parallels the passion, Judas offers to make a deal with Jesus's enemies for only 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave.

a poem on Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The serene island rests

in tranquil blue water

the palne plummets

from the sky

a ball of fire

the boys gather

and form a brotherhood

conflict erupts

blood spilled

innoncence lost

the boat drifts away

carrying the men

permanently scarred

forever cursed

A fiction response to Lord of the Flies. I am writing this from the scene of Jack, who is the main antagonist of the story. The boys are stranded on an island and decide to elect a chief. The two people running for chief are Ralph, the main protagonist of the story. Ralph eventually wins the election.

Jack broke through the treeline, and found a beach, his choir group following behind him. They quickly found the source of the noise, a group of boys standing on a platform with one boy standing and holding a conch shell. Jack quickly made his way to the platform, where there appeared to be two boys telling the other's what to do. Jack and his followers quickly made their way there just in time to hear the two boys telling the young boys what to do. After a few minutes of debating, tall boy named Ralph decided we needed a chief.

"Shut up," said Ralph, "Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things."

All the little boys yelled for a vote while Jack silently waited, knowing that he would be able to win any vote. After all the boys settled down, the two possibilities were announced, Ralph and Jack. Fatty announced Jack's name and Jack looked around expecting everybody's hands to go up. Only his choir raised their hands enthusiastically.

"Now everbody who wants Ralph," yelled Fatty.

Everybody else raised their hands, while Jack sat their, appalled. He silently knew that one way or another, Ralph would not stay chief. As Fatty announced the winner, Jack silently sat there, plotting ways to get back at Ralph. He finally stood up and congratulated Ralph maintaning a facade that indicated happiness.He knew Ralph would not be chief for long.

Life of Pi Essay

Posted in essay blog.

Valley

A peaceful green valley, a natural habitat filled with nature and life. Waterfalls flow gently down the side, ending in a sparkling clear river that winds it's way through the valley floor. Birds fly above, and the animals run below. Crickets chirp softly while the soft light of fireflies begins to glow as night falls. Suddenly, a disturbance wakes the animals from rest, birds begin a frightened flight away from their homes leaving the young ones who can't fly behind. The animals hurriedly try to run away before being swallowed by the jaws that steadily approach it. As morning comes and the sun rises over the valley, it's time for another day of work for the logging company.

Life of Pi Response

India has a population of over 1 billion people and it is the second most populous country in the world. With so many people living there it become necessary to have multiple religions to cater to the ever-growing population. Pi Patel, a teenage boy growing up in the Indian city of Pondicherry as a zookeeper’s son. Pi soon learns firsthand of the different religions in India, and how they aren’t really different at all.

Pi’s native religion is Hinduism. Pi was born into a Hindu family and lives in a mostly Hindu country. Pi is a deeply religious person and greatly enjoys going to the Hindu temple as a boy. When Pi turns fourteen, he and his family take a small vacation to the city Munnar. While there Pi, gets his first real exposure to Christianity. Pi is exploring around the city and stumbles upon a Christian church. The first day he goes in, he’s too intimidated to talk to the priest, but on the second day Pi begins to learn what the Christian faith is about. At first, he can’t believe that the people would treat God’s Son like that, and compares it to the Hindu faith saying that there would be no way a god would be treated like that if they were a Hindu god. However, Pi soon begins to look past the childish comparisons to see that Christianity really is a special religion and that true messages behind it. Pi is so inspired that he asks Father Martin to become a part of the religion to which Father Martin replies, “You already are, Piscine—in your heart. Whoever meets Christ in good faith is a Christian. Here in Munnar you met Christ.”

Pi discovers Islam by wandering through the streets of Pondicherry, until he meets a baker named Kumar. Kumar is a deeply religious man and is a Muslim mystic man. This is the complete opposite of the other Mr. Kumar, Pi's biology teacher. Mr. Kumar the teacher is an aethist, yet he also is a strong believer in his faith. Martel also shows paradox between these two by making Mr. Kumar a biology teacher. Mr. Kumar teaches science, and religion is based on spirit not on religion.

Throughout Pi’s early years in life, his devotion to God is unwavering. From an early age he develops a deep love and respect for God, and religion in general. He practices three faiths, each completely different from each other, and yet all sharing a deep love for God.

Fahrenheit 451 Project

My project is in my essay blog.

Fahrenheit 451 Quote Response

“Anyways, Pete and I always said, no tears, nothing like that. It’s our third marriage each and we’re independent. Be independent, we always said. He said, if I get killed off, you just go right ahead and don’t cry, but get married again, and don’t think of me.” (pg. 95) Human life in this novel is given almost no value, as massive tv’s and fast cars are considered more important than having a family or friends. The quote above describes Mrs. Phelps’s feelings about the fact that her third husband has just been sent to war. Mrs. Phelps doesn’t even think twice about the fact that he could die, as she would just find another husband who could pay for her t.v. walls and other material possessions. A world in which your husband or wife, the person who you are spend the rest of your life with, doesn’t care if you live or die is a scary thought, and in Bradbury’s world, it is considered normal practice. An even more frightening thought would be a world in which people have children not to love them or care for them, but to keep the human race in existence. The only children that are referenced to in the novel are Clarisse and Mrs. Bowel’s children. Mrs. Bowel treats having children as a chore and compares having children with washing the clothes, you stuff the laundry in and slam the lid. The birth of a child is a rare occasion that is celebrated greatly, but in Bradbury’s world, it is not something done out of love, but to simply to keep the human race alive.

Great Expectations Essay

In essay blog.

Any time you visit the art museum, you are likely to stumble upon the picture of the Campbell’s soup can created by Andy Warhol. It is bright, obnoxious, and probably one of the odder pieces in the museum. The series of pictures is prominently placed in the one of the main rooms in the museum. This piece really caught my eye because of the bright pinks and greens that are used in the piece and the fact that it’s a painting of a soup can. Andy Warhol created a series of these soup cans in their traditional colors and made one for every different type of soup that Campbell’s made. He eventually made many different pictures of the soup cans substituting the traditional colors for brighter colors. One observation that Warhol made about America was that "America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you know the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke too."

Quote Response

“He regarded me with a look of affection that made him almost abhorrent to me again, though I had felt great pity for him.”(pg. 351) Pip thinks about his convict this after he learns that his benefactor is not Miss Havisham, but the convict from so long ago that he had forgotten, but who had not forgotten him. Pip’s initial reaction to this is not one of love, but one of disgust. He had prided himself on being the recipient of Miss Havisham’s money, only to learn that he was in fact receiving money from a convict, a member of the lowest level of society. Pip treats the convict with the arrogance of a gentleman, forgetting that it was the convict who had made him the gentleman. The convict loves Pip like a son and showers him with money, and Pip just looks at him in disdain and just takes the money as his.

Chapter 25 Wemmick

Wemmick is certainly one of the more unique characters so far in the novel. Wemmick's entire personality changes based on if he's at work or at home. When Wemmick leaves work he appears cold and heartless, and when he arrives home he is cheerful and calm. As an assistant to Jaggers, Wemmick must put on a facade that he is cruel so that he protects Jaggers's image as a feared lawyer, and because of his line of work. When you're a lawyer in court, you have to fight a battle in which somebody's life could balance on the outcome. Somebody has to lose, and if you lose you have to move on or risk being stuck in a moment of greif like Miss Havisham. Wemmick has been Jaggers assisstant for many years, and has learned not to show much emotion at work.

At home, Wemmick is like a whole new person. When he is home, he is at rest and happy. Wemmick has even transformed his house to represent his change of attitude, turning it into a castle complete with a flag and drawbridge. Also at Wemmick's house is the Aged Parent, Wemmick's father. The Aged has a strange quirk, in that he loves to be nodded at. Wemmick appears to take great joy in nodding at him, which is not only strange but completely unlike his work personality. At the end of Pip's stay at Wemmick's house, Pip walks him back to work. While walking, Pip notices Wemmick's face start to harden until he becomes the cruel man that so many expect him to be.

Veteran's Essay

My Veteran's Essay is in my essay blog. The link is on the right.

The Good Earth Essay

Here's a link to my new blog, and my essay is in the blog. It's a pretty long essay and it might take awhile to read.
http://ggeanon2.blogspot.com/

Hart Crane Pt. 1

Hart Crane was born in Ohio in 1899. His father was a businessman who owned a candy company and his mom was slightly crazy. He had a tough childhood, because his mother would force him to spend time with her, because she kept on imagining that she would soon catch a fatal disease and die. His mother would continue to control him even when he became an adult. In 1908, he moved to his grandmother's house while his mom recovered from a nervous breakdown. It was at his grandmother's house that he was first exposed to any sort of writing. He began reading pieces by famous poets like Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson who eventually became major influences on him. In 1916, he left Ohio to attend college in New York City. In New York, he decided to quit out of college and chose to follow a career in writing. While there he continued to read up on different poet including William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. Soon, he began to abuse alchol, and have relationships with sailors because it turned out that he was gay.

The Good Earth Quiz

1. So far in this novel, Wang Lung's uncle is my least favorite character. He is a dishonest man who steals and gambles. The first time he comes to Wang Lung for the money, he keeps begging until he blackmails Wang Lung when he says he'll tell everyone in the village that cold rude man. His uncle keeps on coming and asking for more until eventually they have nothing but the land and their house.

2. Partly because of his uncle, and partly because of possible starvation, Wang Lung decides to take his family to one of the southern cities. They ride on a train, which they call a firewagon, and make it to the south city. Once there, Wang Lung is like a fish out of water. He doesn't know how to make a house out of mat, he doesn't know how their money works, and he doesn't know how to make a living. His wife knows how to beg, and Wang Lung learns to pull rickshaws. One thing I noticed was after their first day in the city, Wang Lung's son wouldn't let of the money he earned be begging. I think this might be a foreshadowing that if Wang Lung becomes rich, his son will be like one of the sons in the House of Hwang and run around doing whatever he wishes.

The Good Earth

The power that people have in this novel revolve around two things, wealth and what sex you are. Wang Lung is a poor farmer from a small village, and has just as much power as anybody else in his village who are also mostly farmers. However, when he goes to the city for his bride, he loses what little power he has and becomes just another farmer because he is so poor. When he goes to the tea shop before he visits the House of Hwang, he is treated with greater respect because he was the richest one there, and thus had more power. The author demonstrates this when the beggar comes up to him for money. Wang Lung had never been the rich person before and was startled that he was being asked for money. He decided to give him money, but probably so he could feel what being rich was like. When he meets the old lady in the House of Hwang, even though she is a woman she still has more money than him and has more power. The only person that Wang Lung has control over would be his wife, because she is poorer than him and is a woman which makes her nothing more than property to Wang Lung.

A Jury of Her Peers Response

I believe that there are many reasons as to why Mrs. Wright killed Mr. Wright by strangling instead of using a gun against him, the biggest being that she wanted to punish him. If this story is taking place in the early 1900's, then most people being executed were probably done so by hanging. Mrs. Wright probably decided to strangle him as a way of punishing him after 20 years of being forced to live under him. He also took away the two things she loved the most, singing and her canary. When Mrs. Wright was younger she was one of the church choir members and loved to sing. Once she married Mr. Wright he prevented her from singing and she had to find another thing to replace it, which she found in the canary. She loved her canary and then Mr. Wright strangled it. This was probably the final straw for Mrs. Wright who would have wanted to kill her husband, but in a way that would make Mr. Wright regret killing her bird. Since the canary was what pushed her over the edge, killing Mr. Wright the same way he had killed her bird would have been satisfying to Mr. Wright instead of just using a gun and pulling a trigger.