Journal #18

“In Another Country”

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?
The narrator is an injured American WWII survivor who is getting therapy in Italy. He is literally in another country and he is alienated because he is not Italian. The officers are in another country because they are alienated in the communist quarter even though they are Italian. The bond between all these men was because they were injured and are isolated. The narrator was injured accidentally and his accommodation wasn’t as sincere as the others who showed bravery in order to get their medals.

2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?
The Hemingway hero is characterized with stoicism and is someone who suffers with grace and dignity. The major is the Hemmingway hero because he is suffering the personal loss of his wife along with his hand injury. The major’s physical injury will keep him from ever fencing again. The major was a lot fencer and his hand will keep him from doing that. The major is the character who is suffering the most. The major feels like the machines will not make a difference. He understood that defeat is inevitable that that you need to hold onto things that are permanent.


3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up? What is the significance of the major’s reaction?
The photos can be inferred to be fake because the soldiers are the 1st ones to use the machines. They are more of a motivational ploy for the soldiers. The major refused to look at them and stared out the window. He later gave up on the machines and walked out.

Journal 17

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph? How does it relate to Prufrock?

The epigraph is from Dante’s Inferno. Dante is saying that he is unafraid to tell his story because no one has ever come back from hell. No one can say that he is wrong or can disgrace him. The epigraph relates to Prufrock because his story includes his private thoughts. Prufrock’s story is not meant for a wide audience because he is so self-conscious. There is a certain level of privacy like in Dante’s Inferno because both works are not meant to be judged by the public. No one else had insight into their particular work.

2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?

He asks: What is it? Do I dare? So how should I presume? Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis? Shall I part my hair behind? The questions are not random and all show Prufrock’s hesitation. His questioning shows a theme of uncertainty and fear. Prufrock is very self–conscience and that shows up in all of his questions as well. He is not sure if he should do one thing or another and even trivial worries eat away at him. There is also a pattern of repetition in many of his questions. This repetition shows his anxiety about what is to come later in his life.

3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?

His main flaw is his character because he is constantly worrying. He is uncertain about himself and his decisions. He is incredibly self-conscience and doesn’t want to be judged by others. He is a minor character in his world and does nothing of great importance. He also never experiences love in his life and is preoccupied with his worries.

4. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?

The story is called a love song even though it is about the absence of love. This title is completely ironic because there isn’t love in it at all. You have a feeling of pathos for the character because he doesn’t have love in his life. This is not a love song but more of a song of sadness that is following the flow of Prufrock’s thoughts and worries.

Journal #16

Crane’s “The Blue Hotel” and London’s “To Build A Fire”

In Crane’s “The Blue Hotel”, the Swede proves that a combination of character and social conditions can lead to a predetermined ending. The Swede thinks that he is in the Wild West when he enters the hotel because he was influenced by too many dime novels. He is mentally unstable and declares that he will die in this hotel like so many other people have, although no one has died in that hotel. The inn keeper gives that man something to drink in order to calm him down. The Swede became belligerent and was unable to handle alcohol well. This character trait was the determining factor that leads to his death. Because the Swede was unstable, he gets into a fight with Johnny and is convinced that everyone is siding against him. The social environment, were the Swede thinks he is, adds to his hysteria. After beating Johnny, the Swede becomes even more quarrelsome and berates a stranger who enters. The Swede was stabbed and died just as fate had predicted. This is a perfect example of a self-fulfilling prophesy which takes his free will out of the equation.

In London’s “To Build a Fire”, the man is a victim of fate and the environment. He is determined to get back to his boys and ignores all the advice from the old timer. The old timer told him not to go out when it is 50 below or colder. The man’s character leads him to risk his life in order to get back to his camp. The dog’s instincts tell it that extreme cold is dangerous but the man’s doesn’t. The man is ignorant to this environment and that leads to his death. He ignores the dangers around him and becomes too numb to even start a fire. His free will was only an illusion. After entering into that environment woefully unprepared, his death was inevitable. The man was unable to exercise any pull over his destiny because fate had already determined his path.

Journal #15

1. Write a sentence that summarizes the story’s overall message, and provide three direct quotes from the story that best illustrate this message.

The message is that living in the ideal instead of the real world, like Editha does, can be a dangerous thing.

“It isn’t this war alone; though this seems peculiarly wanton and needless; but it’s every war –so stupid; it makes me sick. Why shouldn’t this thing have been settled reasonably?”

“He told me he had asked you to come if he got killed. You didn’t expect that, I suppose, when you sent him.”

“You thought it would be all right for my George, your George, to kill the sons of those miserable mothers and husbands of those girls that you would never see that faces of

2. What tactics does Editha use to make George believe as she does about the war?

Editha tries to argue with George and she makes it known that her opinion is the right one. She tells him that it is a holy war ordained by providence. She makes George doubts himself and writes him a letter with her engagement ring enclosed. She was pushing, threatening, and compelling him to go to war. She writes that there is no honor greater than serving America and that they need to agree in everything in order to be together. She tells George that he needs to think it over and come back to her if he decides to go to war. Her persuasion works in the end and he is compelled to join with the town and go to war.

3. Is there ever a time in which Editha truly understands what she has done? Does she ever experience an epiphany?

Editha has a slight understanding of what she was done after she finds out that George has died. She mourns his loss and visits George’s mother like he asked. Editha is scorned for sending him to war. Mrs. Gearson said that Editha didn’t expect him to die when she sent him, but it is still her fault. She doesn’t truly understand her actions. She has an epiphany at the end that brings her back into her ideal world. The lady, who Editha was telling her story to, agreed that Mrs. Gearson was vulgar for saying those things. Editha rose out of self-pity and began to live in the ideal again.

Journal #14

“Richard Cory“ (497)

Richard is viewed by the people in town as a perfect man. He was a gentleman who all the people looked up to and admired. He was schooled in every grace and very rich as well. It is ironic because he seemed to have a perfect life but kills himself in the end. His life isn’t really that perfect because he shoots himself in the head. He has some major problems which can’t be seem from the outside. A major theme is that you can’t judge people by their appearance. Also, money can’t buy you happiness. His name sounds like rich core. This is contrasting his real life to his ideal life which seems perfect. He is really rich on the outside but poor on the inside.

“Miniver Cheevy” (497)

Miniver wishes that he was born in another time. He is a fan of romance stories and knights. He loved the days when people had swords and rode horses. He wanted an ideal life but he got what was real so he became a drunk. He wanted his life to be like the lives in adventure stories. He cursed his life and missed what was in front of him. His life is empty and he escapes into these stories His name sounds like minimal achiever.

“Mr. Flood’s Party” (498)

Flood is having a part by himself which is not what a party is meant to be. He is old and all his friends are gone. He drinks so that he can have friends in himself. When he is drunk, he can talk to himself and have a party with himself. He drinks for times gone by and he is living in his past. He is trying to live his ideal life through drinking and remembering the past. The reality is that he is just a lonely drunk.

Journal #13

Edgar Lee Masters Epitaphs

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?

Gray’s life is symbolized by a boat with a furled sail resting in a harbor. This is similar to Gray’s life because he dreaded taking chances. He wanted to try and find meaning to life but never did anything about it. He is like a boat that wants to go out into the sea but is afraid. The boat with a furled sail is unable to leave the harbor just like Gray is unable to follow his ambitions. Gray should not have let sorrow and fears control and tournament him. This was all about how he lived his life in fear.

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interpret the last line of the poem?

Matlock’s life is filled with excitement and love unlike Gray’s life. Gray was scared to go out and live life and was tormented by his ambition. Matlock lived a long and full life with her husband and children. She celebrated life but lost many of her children. She did all that she wanted to do and didn’t let the bad parts bother her. Gray never married, never had kids, and didn’t build relationships with friends. Gray regretted that he never lived but Matlock got a lot out of life because she invested more into it. In the last line of the poem, Matlock decided that it takes life in order to love Life. You need to experience the good and the bad in order to enjoy Life.

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?

The epitaphs are about Middle class people’s lives. They aren’t about heroic people but just about how ordinary people live and the everyday things that they did. Both of them are detailed and in depth but lacking emotion.

Journal #12

1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative). What do the following represent?

Young Goodman Brown – transition from good to evil as a result of experience in the woods and the loss of faith

Faith – faith in God and others

The Elderly Traveller/Fellow-Traveller – the devil and evil

Goody Cloyse – corruption; a seemingly virtuous person who is actually in league with the devil

The Ceremony – sinful nature of people

The Pink Ribbon – the loss of faith and visual proof of a world filled with sin

Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – seeing the world as it truly is and the transition from innocence to experience of good and evil

2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”:

Theme Message of Theme Element Used to Establish

Theme: Sin/ evil

Message: The world is influenced and controlled by sin; everyone is tempted by sin and will eventually give into it.

Element: Characterization

In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.

“What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven:”

“There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.”

“Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness.”