Style Analysis

In the poem “Conjoined,” by Judith Minty, Minty uses many different literary devices to talk about her views and opinions about marriage. Throughout the poem Minty uses literary devices like diction, analogies, and metaphors to convey her “hopeless” sort of views towards marriage.

             The first stanza of the poem Minty uses a combination of diction and analogies to tell us what she thinks about her marriage and how it turned out. She compares her marriage to what could be a wedding cake. Minty uses words like “deformed” to imply that her marriage is not normal or not right. She also describes the cake, or her marriage, as a “monster”; a very pessimistic way of looking at a marriage. When a marriage should bond two people together and create union, here it is talked of as a monster; definitely not something that creates bondage. In the last line of the first stanza we see why deformity had taken place before and that is because it was, “pressed and grew against the other.” (Minty) When Minty uses the word, “pressed” it gives off the connotation of a claustrophobic atmosphere, in which it would be very uncomfortable. Also, in terms of marriage, when you are married you are supposed to better the other person, but here Minty describes a marriage where the two parts of the marriage “pressed” against each other and ended up “deformed.”

             The second stanza of the poem Minty now uses diction and metaphors to give further support to her argument. She starts out by giving one example of a physical thing that is conjoined that didn’t turn out well. She uses the analogy of a two-headed calf fighting to get milk from its mother. This is Minty talking about a troubled marriage where both sides are fighting against each other for what they want. The choice and use of diction in this line gives it a troubled tone as well. It says, “An accident, like the two-headed calf …”(Minty) Starting out the line stating that this two-headed calf is an accident really does give the impression that the calf is not meant to be, almost like the marriage she’s talking about is not meant to be. Past this example Minty talks about a set of Siamese twins saying, “Or like those other freaks, Chang and Eng, twins/ Joined at the chest by skin and muscle, doomed/ To live, even make love, together for sixty years.” (Minty) This example is an analogy just like the one about the calf. Minty is relating a marriage to the troubled situation of Siamese twins that must live together forever joined at the chest. Also, diction is again a very important part of these few lines because Minty uses derogatory terms like “freaks” to say that being a Siamese twin is a terrible thing to be, just as she believes some marriages are. Minty also uses the word “doomed” when she talks about how the twins will have to live together for the rest of their lives because of their condition. Using the words “freaks” and “doomed” here really brings out the pessimistic views that Minty has towards marriage.

                In the last stanza, Minty again uses powerful diction and metaphors to show us her views on marriage. In this final stanza Minty returns to the previous analogies and metaphors that she has talked about, the Siamese twins and the onion in the kitchen.  Minty opens up the stanza asking if you “can feel the skin that binds us (reference to the Siamese twins)/ Together as we move, heavy in this house?” (Minty) Minty has already used another important and powerful word here that makes us think about this situation in a negative way. The word Minty uses is “heavy” to describe the weight of us, or the marriage, as “we move in this house.” The word heavy in this context, suggests that it is uncomfortable and difficult to maneuver in the marriage. Minty then goes on to say that as a result of cutting the skin that binds the two together, one of the twins will be set free, but the other might die. This is another analogy that shows what Minty thinks about what might happen if you go about a divorce. From that line Minty thinks that in most cases of divorce, both sides do not end up fine. After this we get the last line of the poem where Minty says, “We cannot escape each other.” (Minty) This last line is an overall summary and conclusion of Minty’s final thoughts for her marriage. Minty feels that she cannot escape her marriage and that she is trapped in an uncomfortable relationship with her husband.

Maus II

As im browsing the web trying to dodge those sites that try to sell you essays. I found this website that has different scenes from the Graphic Novel "Maus II" that are being analyzed by differnet points of view. The article that im going to talk about the author od this web page is Antonio S. Oliver.  Oliver explains why the approach Spiegelman took in writing this novel works. Oliver first talks about Spiegelman’s decision to write the novel in comic book form. His quick reasoning for advocating Spiegelman’s approach was by saying the phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” I think Oliver has a great point here. Especially when talking about the Holocaust, a topic and event that people say words cannot describe, why not draw a picture that could tell a lot about the Holocaust in a less amount of space. I think this also works because using just words to describe a tragic event like the Holocaust would clearly not do justice to even start to describe it, and not saying that pictures do do it justice, but the combination of pictures and words comes closer to portray this event than words can. Below where Oliver talks about writing this novel in comic book form, he talks about Spiegelman’s decision to put all the people in the novel as different animals. One of Oliver’s first points is that showing the people in the Holocaust as cats and mice and even pigs forces the reader to throw out all preconceived notions that they have of human nature. Oliver also contributes his insight that the Jews were portrayed as mice because the Nazi once called Jews, “vermin of society,” so Oliver thinks that might be Spiegelman’s reasoning for having Jews as mice. Oliver then says that the Nazis in the novel had to be cats because everyone knows that cats and mice are “natural sworn enemies.”link

 Modernism is all about the truth and finding one central purpose to live by and believe in.....while Postmodernism suggests that we as a civilization must deviate away from the concept of modernism because there is no one truth and trying to pursue that will only lead to chaos.  Trying to create conformity among the masses will create progress to some extent but it will also lead this "progress" down the wrong path. The book title itself, Cat's Cradle, represents postmodernism in all aspects.  As described in the book we come to realize that the Cats Cradle is the oldest game known to man, presenting no form or end to this mess of string they call a game. This book also brings the theory of having a utopia to light. The struggles of having a utopia are put to focus in the Cats Cradle and the risks of making a perfect society is far more dangerous than the reward. Therefore, establishing a single grand narrative in society is futile.  Vonnegut expresses this point through the use of his characters.  Newt is a midget, while his sister is a giant, and together they have a radical brother-not exactly a stereotypical American family from the mid twentieth century.  In addition, Vonnegut uses Newt to display that society is filled with masked lies that conform to fit the grand narrative. In all aspect the Grand Narrative is Bokonon there religion and foma which is lies made to make the believers of bokononism to believe there doing the right thing.

Brave New World essay topic

For my topic in my Brave New World  paper I want to relate relevant sources to my topic and get plenty of sophisticated scholars and trying to apply there philosophy. Some topics worth considering are the values of efficiency or the role of education between the real world and Brave New World. Also another topic worth stating is pleasure vs. morals. The value of efficiency is portrayed in the Brave New World when you find out the "civilized people are being reproduced in a mass production sort of fashion. The key to this value is the faster you can make a product and the more you can make of it the closer to perfection you get. The value of efficiency ties in with Sir Ken Robinson's philosophy about economics. When Robinson talk about how a culture needs a cultural identity and passing on the cultural genes to reach thee process of Globalization. Furthermore, the role of education is a very important key point which also entails to Sir Ken Robinson. His philosophy regarding education points out that in a culture the previous generation has to pass on the knowledge and the traditions of there culture. In the Brave New World the previous does this in a way so that the children grow up scared of certain items that prohibits them in doing different task. These different topic points are not very different then prior essays such as the "Tempest" and 1984. While i was on the topic of the "Tempest" the point of Pleasure vs. Morals. This relates to Both the "Tempest" and Brave New World. The points of Pleasure in both novels is when the civilized people took Soma for relief and When Caliban attempted to have his way with Melinda. This entails that both novels had Pleasurable focal points but, the morality of the stories two major powers dominate the weaker people which is classified by the dominate power.
       

Oh yeah! new education yeah!

                                In the video I watched on changing educational paradigms created by Sir Ken Robinson and he explains a universal truth about where the educational system is heading. The section in the video that really connected with me thinking about the Brave New World context is when Robinson starts talking about how the educational system of this day and age splits groups of children by age or "date of manufacture" and educate them like that. Furthermore, Robinson makes a lot of good points but the two points that stuck out at me was the two main ones being Economics and Cultural. The economic point of view is based around, how can you teach the younger generation how to take a place in the 21st century economic stand points. Furthermore, the other point is Cultural, which entails each culture trying to give the younger generation a cultural identity. Therefore, they can pass on there cultural genes. The cultural aspect of the video to me draws a major parallel. In the Brave New World the more intelligent and higher ranking individuals pass on the cultural gene. Furthermore, the cultural identity is displayed when as toddlers and babies they were tested by displaying them books and flowers and as they interacted with said items a loud siren went off, lights started, to flash, and they got shocked.
                                   Connecting The Brave New World with the concepts of Sir Ken Robinson is very thought provoking. The way Robinson talks about how kids are just feed ADHD pills to help them pay attention, but instead of being ill these kids are just distracted not hyperactive. Furthermore the consistence on the way the people in Brave New World take soma as if there the distracted kids in our world.  "Although the repeated doses of soma have made them almost completely oblivious to the world around them." This quote tells us that they residents of this society don't just take one dose they take as many as they think they need.  

SHOCKING BABIES!

"Wheels must turn steadily, but can not turn untended. There must be men to tend them, men as sturdy as the wheels upon their axles, sane men, obedient men, stable in contentment." This quote by Mustapha Mond could be difficult to grapple with if you don't have the right text , but in "Brave New World" Huxley applies this dialogue to portray man's importance in a society. The quote puts emphasis on "sane men and obedient men" telling the reader that the sane men are the alphas and betas the smart ones in the book then the obedient ones are the gammas, deltas, epsilons that hardly think only about there insignificant job. Therefore, know matter how smart or how dumb a person is they can still contribute to society by either making big decisions or digging ditches. In Mustpha Mond's speech he quotes Henry Ford saying "History is Bunk" proving that is the reason why the director is not teaching to them  the citizens. The idea of stability in a society is a major aspect in this novel. Mond again says "Strong emotion, inspired by family relationships, sexual repression, and delayed satisfaction of desire, goes directly against stability. Without stability, civilization cannot exist." All the aspects of a normal life are thrown out the window because of the fear of instability. Furthermore, he goes on to say that from this instability comes disease, war, and social unrest resulting in millions of casualties. Can normal family values and emotional attachment or even intellectual knowledge about your surroundings can harm a society that bad? In my interpretation of what Huxley is trying to tell us in these few chapters is that regulation is good in fact a necessity but to much regulation then you get the radical and extreme point of views that will help no one. Hence, that in the novel to much regulation can lead to mass production of people and eventually SHOCKING BABIES!