UnJi Nam
Mrs. Elliott
AP English Lit
22 March 2009
Passage Essay: Invisible Man
In the novel Invisible Man, Ellison delves into the complex issue of individual identity, analyzing how it is repressed, molded, and exploited by others and by even oneself in society. The author explores the various methods of control and also concrete examples of repression of individuals, such as racism and self-serving philanthropism that paralyzes men into positions of benevolence and gratitude. A particular tie-in of how individual identity and lives are stifled by forces beyond them can be found in the passage before the battle royale scene, where the nameless protagonist encounters a dancer. This scene deftly shows by symbolism in the dancer the allure of the American dream—riches, opportunities, and ideals—and how she is used to mollify and scare the lower echelons of society into behaving for those men in power. With use of imagery the reader find hints of Ellison’s tone, an author who looks with disgust at the scene of men lusting after the symbolic dancer, but also at the same time sympathy for the basic desire for better things that drive men witless. One can also detect satire of this bundle of dreams and ideals that is the cornerstone of American idealism that is depicted as little better than a cheap whore to all. With this passage, Ellison does not only introduce the start of the dissolution of the narrator’s idealistic Washingtonian dreams of social value with hard work and virtue. The author also explores deeper into how individual identity is oppressed by both outside forces and with the consent of the individual themselves, how the seemingly virtuous and admirable in society is not always the good it promises. The individual identity is constantly preyed and manipulated by forces, be it good or bad, from others or even oneself in society.
Symbolism in the passage adds greatly to the theme of how identity is encroached by outside forces; in the passage, the dancer is quite crudely tied to American ideas and systems by the flag tattooed on her belly. The colors red, white and blue that are associated with her reinforces her ties to American ideals. “The face heavily powdered and rouged, the pink and erected nipples…the eyes hollow and smeared a cool blue, the color of a baboon’s butt.” It is interesting to note how American ideals are personified in this woman, cheapened and made sluttish for the masses that do not respect or uphold what she stands for. She is basely lusted after by white men, and manhandled by them as well as little better than entertainment. “They caught her just as she reached a door, raised her from the floor, and tossed her…I saw the terror and disgust in her eyes.” But yet this toy of powerful men is still dangled in front of the black boys as unattainable, the white woman and the freedoms and opportunities of America in one, both upheld as too pure and good for the unworthy lower classes. This dancer is the prize for the boys—she represents the economic opportunities, full breadth of civil rights, and social acceptance that they so badly desire, as shown by their lust. Men would become little better than animals to win her, giving up their high ideals and philanthropy. One can see how this pursuit of the American dream of betterment for the individual ultimately cheapens people to little more than characters, and in doing so lose their individual self.
Imagery in the passage is used to develop the author’s attitude towards this small playacting of American society at large. The woman who represents the chase of material goods and freedoms is cheapened by descriptions such as “the color of a baboon’s butt” and “yellow like that of a circus kewpie doll”, showing how the narrator can recognize the woman’s essential cheapness to the individual. And yet with the description of her physical body, which can tie into the desire for the solid and physical things of the world such as economic opportunities and civil rights, the narrator betrays his lust as well. With description of the somewhat obscene desires that the narrator undergoes, Ellison shows his own disgusted but sympathetic stance towards the pursuit of happiness and especially those who undertake it. Both can recognize how the pursuit of property and happiness is used by society to control the lower masses to servility and powerlessness. “On my right I saw one boy faint…his head hung and moans issued from his thick bluish lips. Another boy began to plead to go home. He tried to hide himself with his boxing gloves.” But both can also recognize the legitimate human need for such things. With the continuance of the cold-blooded dance of the woman, and the rush of the powerful for her, Ellison portrays the chaos of the scene and how human ideals break down in the face of animal wants. The whole scene is barbaric and pitiful for all involved at the same time. No man, whether rich or poor, white or black, escapes the woman’s effects. All have subscribed to the cheap pursuit of her, forsaking the growth of higher and more enlightened purposes. While author, narrator and reader may be disgusted by this animalistic chase, one realizes that this is part of human nature. As the story progresses, Ellison directs both his character and the audience to the realization that to blind oneself to the reality of base human wants is to blind oneself to the truth. To assume that ideals of virtue, sacrifice or the righteousness of rage can define everything about a human being is to not know the truth, to order the world according to lines that do not exist. And as a member of the lower echelons of society, the narrator as a poor black man often bears the brunt of such dehumanizing ideals of others that would force him to be something other than what he truly is. Whether he is seen as a hard worker, criminal, motivational speaker or scapegoat, none of them can truly define what he is. And the truth of one’s own identity is arguably the most important thing a person has. It has been called the last freedom, the soul, and the one thing that is carried with a person beyond death. One’s choice to react to circumstances as they see fit, one’s own truthful wants and opinions. Things that are all ruthlessly stripped away by others, and one such way to do so is by the dangling of the carrot known as the American dream. With it, men swallow blood and speak irony; for it, they would betray their own; for it, they would deny themselves and their true colors.
In the end, Ellison was not advocating the removal of the American dream from society, or the downfall of society at large that oppressed individuals to fit into a scheme like machine parts. What Ellison called for was simple knowledge of the fact of how the American dream was used, both to oppress and to integrate people to be the same. And also, for his readers to follow the actions of the invisible narrator and try to effect change in society. Change as that society could function together without having to lose one’s own soul for betterment in life, change as so others could recognize and accept both the idealistic and the base in humanity without rejecting both the ugly and the people associated with it in the world.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Poem Analysis--Hardy and Hopkins
UnJi Nam
Mrs. Elliott
AP English Literature
9 March 2009
Poem Analysis
In both “The Darkling Thrush” and “The habit of Perfection”, the two poems delve into the relationship between man and spirituality. In “The Darkling Thrush” Thomas Hardy explores the human capacity for hope and faith even in the face of pessimism. “The Habit of Perfection” in contrast delves more into how an individual can expand spiritually by reining in one’s fleshly appetites and selfish desires. Both explore the idea of divinity and enlightenment beyond a person’s scope. However, the two poems differ widely in their methods suggested for how a person does achieve or even relate to higher spirituality in the universe. For Hardy, the speaker of his poem comes from an apathetic, degenerating world who sees no reason for hope nor belief in God or the good, “All mankind that haunted nigh had sought their household fires, the lands sharp features seemed to me the Century’s corpse outleant…and every spirit upon earth seemed fervorless as I.”. In contrast, “The Habit of Perfection” sees the redemption of man’s soul and purpose in life inherent in the individual themselves, who must self-discipline themselves to find spiritual elevation. Written in the same period in Victorian society, these two poems are singular in their contrasting views for mankind’s abilities and place in the universe, as well as differing attitudes of optimism for the former. For “The Darkling Thrush”, the general point of pessimism with acknowledgement of man’s limitations in understanding the universe beyond him is delineated by imagery and structure. In “The Habit of Perfection”, the poem’s meaning of how a person can transcend their earthly limitations by ignoring earthly pleasures is enhanced by the poet’s use of personification and allusion.
The use of imagery in “The Darkling Thrush” is key to its overall mood set throughout the poem. Repetition of the theme of death and degeneration is emphasized by the use of words such as the frost of the winter evening being “spectre-gray”, “The weakening eye of day”, and a whole stanza on the subject of “The lands sharp features seemed to me the Century’s corpse outleant, his crypt the cloudy canopy.” Such words and lines contribute to the first two stanzas pessimistic and contemplative mood, touched with melancholy that only the speaker gives voice to, but the whole world feels. “And every spirit upon earth seemed fervorless as I.” Other images used add to the depths of the speaker’s depression, such as the “household fires” that humans have retreated to, suggesting that man with their ambivalent ability to create and destroy have isolated themselves from the growing darkness of the world with artificial light. This suggest even further the isolation between man and the universe—the universe that includes divinity and the natural flow of life beyond human vanities and short-lived passions. But it is with the third and fourth stanza that the imagery employed changes from reminiscent of aging and death to hope and regeneration. With the use of the singing thrush, “A voice arose among in a full-hearted evensong of joy illimited, an aged thrush in blast-beruffled plume.” The song of the thrush is symbolic. Its symbolic of human hope, not only for better things in the physical world, but of humans and the natural universe—represented in the singing bird—having a truer relationship with each other, of when people can accept their fleshiness and their ultimate unimportance instead of gouging and shaping the earth with memorials to themselves and their selfishness. It also is a stand-in for spring, the season of hope and regeneration, for which the thrush is preparing for. The speaker, with the last line “So little cause for carolings of such ecstatic sound…that I could think there trembled through some blessed hope, of which he knew, and I was unaware.” is acknowledging that somewhere, there could be a higher purpose, a divinity, a higher state of human spirituality and enlightenment beyond his ken. Structure is also essential in delineating this change from matter of factual depression over the state of the world to hope for better things. The first two stanzas are quite structured and orderly, following a familiar rhythm throughout and written dispassionately. It is with the introduction of the bird that the stanzas rhythm and structure change drastically, the rhythm no longer it’s easy, familiar beat, but a rapid, emotional fluttering. The structure becomes more emotional in nature, with interjections added onto sentences and lines made shorter as the speaker is gripped with new feeling. The speaker, along with the thrush, ends the poem with hope, the eternal scourge and blessing of men.
With “The Habit of perfection” the poet comes from a different spiritual place. The speaker is almost exuberant with hope and resolution in comparison to Hardy. He claims that with deprivation and self-discipline comes a greater understanding of the divine in the universe, and that such understanding brings joy to its believers. The poet, Gerard Hopkins, works with the underlying assumption that divinity does exist, that it does care for the growth of the human soul, and that man has the capacity to elicit positive change in their life and the world permanently. In short, he is emphasizing the power and importance of the individual, whose hard work and dedication ends in such delightful rewards such as being closer to God, as opposed to Hardy who finds the individual powerless in the face of the universe to ultimately change anything, spiritual or physical, their efforts meaningless and ultimately marred by their own arrogance of their importance, and any divinity to be uninterested in the doings of men. Hopkins emphasizes his optimism of human individuals and the benevolent universe they live in by use of personification. The senses and human desires he speaks to are treated as sentient, separate beings from him “Elected Silence”, “Nostrils, your careless breath that spends” and “O feet, that want the yield of plushy sward.” By doing so, Hopkins elevates the position of these senses, and by doing so, also elevates the human individual by making a person and their fleshy accompaniments almost like a club of enlightened, reasonable beings who can consult each other to achieve higher spiritual elevation. By personifying and addressing these senses that often lead a person astray from a spiritual path to God, he also separates the human soul from its fleshly limits, further emphasizing the importance of a human individual. By allusion to the Bible, mainly in the last stanza, Hopkins ends the conversation between the speaker and his fleshly senses with the final result of spiritual elevation that comes by depriving one’s fleshly desires and senses. It all culminates in a marriage between the individual and poverty, “lily colored clothes not labored at, nor spun”, which is a reference to the teaching of Jesus emphasizing how God takes care of his believers, the final word in Hopkins point of a benevolent universe with a benevolent God with important human individuals.
In the end, both Hopkins and Hardy deal with spirituality being beyond human abilities, but they differ in the importance of the individual in finding this spiritual state, or even how advisable it is. Hopkins finds it the goal to aspire to in all humans, Hardy ends the poem ambivalently—it could be a true redemption, or yet another manifestation of human arrogance over its importance.
Mrs. Elliott
AP English Literature
9 March 2009
Poem Analysis
In both “The Darkling Thrush” and “The habit of Perfection”, the two poems delve into the relationship between man and spirituality. In “The Darkling Thrush” Thomas Hardy explores the human capacity for hope and faith even in the face of pessimism. “The Habit of Perfection” in contrast delves more into how an individual can expand spiritually by reining in one’s fleshly appetites and selfish desires. Both explore the idea of divinity and enlightenment beyond a person’s scope. However, the two poems differ widely in their methods suggested for how a person does achieve or even relate to higher spirituality in the universe. For Hardy, the speaker of his poem comes from an apathetic, degenerating world who sees no reason for hope nor belief in God or the good, “All mankind that haunted nigh had sought their household fires, the lands sharp features seemed to me the Century’s corpse outleant…and every spirit upon earth seemed fervorless as I.”. In contrast, “The Habit of Perfection” sees the redemption of man’s soul and purpose in life inherent in the individual themselves, who must self-discipline themselves to find spiritual elevation. Written in the same period in Victorian society, these two poems are singular in their contrasting views for mankind’s abilities and place in the universe, as well as differing attitudes of optimism for the former. For “The Darkling Thrush”, the general point of pessimism with acknowledgement of man’s limitations in understanding the universe beyond him is delineated by imagery and structure. In “The Habit of Perfection”, the poem’s meaning of how a person can transcend their earthly limitations by ignoring earthly pleasures is enhanced by the poet’s use of personification and allusion.
The use of imagery in “The Darkling Thrush” is key to its overall mood set throughout the poem. Repetition of the theme of death and degeneration is emphasized by the use of words such as the frost of the winter evening being “spectre-gray”, “The weakening eye of day”, and a whole stanza on the subject of “The lands sharp features seemed to me the Century’s corpse outleant, his crypt the cloudy canopy.” Such words and lines contribute to the first two stanzas pessimistic and contemplative mood, touched with melancholy that only the speaker gives voice to, but the whole world feels. “And every spirit upon earth seemed fervorless as I.” Other images used add to the depths of the speaker’s depression, such as the “household fires” that humans have retreated to, suggesting that man with their ambivalent ability to create and destroy have isolated themselves from the growing darkness of the world with artificial light. This suggest even further the isolation between man and the universe—the universe that includes divinity and the natural flow of life beyond human vanities and short-lived passions. But it is with the third and fourth stanza that the imagery employed changes from reminiscent of aging and death to hope and regeneration. With the use of the singing thrush, “A voice arose among in a full-hearted evensong of joy illimited, an aged thrush in blast-beruffled plume.” The song of the thrush is symbolic. Its symbolic of human hope, not only for better things in the physical world, but of humans and the natural universe—represented in the singing bird—having a truer relationship with each other, of when people can accept their fleshiness and their ultimate unimportance instead of gouging and shaping the earth with memorials to themselves and their selfishness. It also is a stand-in for spring, the season of hope and regeneration, for which the thrush is preparing for. The speaker, with the last line “So little cause for carolings of such ecstatic sound…that I could think there trembled through some blessed hope, of which he knew, and I was unaware.” is acknowledging that somewhere, there could be a higher purpose, a divinity, a higher state of human spirituality and enlightenment beyond his ken. Structure is also essential in delineating this change from matter of factual depression over the state of the world to hope for better things. The first two stanzas are quite structured and orderly, following a familiar rhythm throughout and written dispassionately. It is with the introduction of the bird that the stanzas rhythm and structure change drastically, the rhythm no longer it’s easy, familiar beat, but a rapid, emotional fluttering. The structure becomes more emotional in nature, with interjections added onto sentences and lines made shorter as the speaker is gripped with new feeling. The speaker, along with the thrush, ends the poem with hope, the eternal scourge and blessing of men.
With “The Habit of perfection” the poet comes from a different spiritual place. The speaker is almost exuberant with hope and resolution in comparison to Hardy. He claims that with deprivation and self-discipline comes a greater understanding of the divine in the universe, and that such understanding brings joy to its believers. The poet, Gerard Hopkins, works with the underlying assumption that divinity does exist, that it does care for the growth of the human soul, and that man has the capacity to elicit positive change in their life and the world permanently. In short, he is emphasizing the power and importance of the individual, whose hard work and dedication ends in such delightful rewards such as being closer to God, as opposed to Hardy who finds the individual powerless in the face of the universe to ultimately change anything, spiritual or physical, their efforts meaningless and ultimately marred by their own arrogance of their importance, and any divinity to be uninterested in the doings of men. Hopkins emphasizes his optimism of human individuals and the benevolent universe they live in by use of personification. The senses and human desires he speaks to are treated as sentient, separate beings from him “Elected Silence”, “Nostrils, your careless breath that spends” and “O feet, that want the yield of plushy sward.” By doing so, Hopkins elevates the position of these senses, and by doing so, also elevates the human individual by making a person and their fleshy accompaniments almost like a club of enlightened, reasonable beings who can consult each other to achieve higher spiritual elevation. By personifying and addressing these senses that often lead a person astray from a spiritual path to God, he also separates the human soul from its fleshly limits, further emphasizing the importance of a human individual. By allusion to the Bible, mainly in the last stanza, Hopkins ends the conversation between the speaker and his fleshly senses with the final result of spiritual elevation that comes by depriving one’s fleshly desires and senses. It all culminates in a marriage between the individual and poverty, “lily colored clothes not labored at, nor spun”, which is a reference to the teaching of Jesus emphasizing how God takes care of his believers, the final word in Hopkins point of a benevolent universe with a benevolent God with important human individuals.
In the end, both Hopkins and Hardy deal with spirituality being beyond human abilities, but they differ in the importance of the individual in finding this spiritual state, or even how advisable it is. Hopkins finds it the goal to aspire to in all humans, Hardy ends the poem ambivalently—it could be a true redemption, or yet another manifestation of human arrogance over its importance.
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