The Intensity of Love.

Pub #5

“First Love” by John Clare, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anna Bradstreet, and Suffocate by J Holiday have strong correlations, but they also have differences. On the basic level they all talk about love, but in different kinds of ways. Although they were written in different time periods the same emotion is being portrayed in both poems and the song. Love is one of those things that everyone has felt and everyone can relate to. As Professor Brady once said "Its apart of the human condition to love and want to be loved."

            The first poem “First Love” by John Clare was basically about he’s reaction when he first saw the love of his life. In the first few lines of the first stanza of the poem it states “I ne’er was struck before that hour, with love so sudden and so sweet, her face it bloomed like a sweet flower, and stole my heart away complete.” (Clare 1-4) Like that old saying goes “It was love at first sight.” He fell for her the moment he saw her. The tone within this poem is light, and loving. A person could since the depth of his love for the woman in the poem just from the first stanza. The author shows that he’s love is not only an emotional thing but it starts to affect him physical. “My face turned pale as deadly pale, my legs refused to walk away.”(Clare 5-6)

 

 

            In the second poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” the tone is still loving but not as light, it’s a deeper love. This is evident when the poem states “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, or all the riches that the East doth hold.” (Bradstreet 5-6) The author is saying that she values there love more than anything, more than the greatest riches in the world. Gold is a universal valued item by saying she values there love "more than whole mines of gold" she is helping the reader understand how deep her love for her husband truly is.  In this poem the author uses different visuals to explain the love she has for her husband. “My love is such that rivers cannot quench.” (Bradstreet 7) This means that her love for her husband runs so deep, not even all the water in a river could cure her thirst, or longing for him.

 

            In Suffocate by J holiday similar to Bradstreet he is talking about a deeper love, an almost obsessive love. The beginning of the chorus states “Cause I can't breathe when you talk to me, I can't breathe when you're touching me, I suffocate when you're away from me, so much love you take from me, I'm going outta my mind.” (J Holiday) The way I see it is when he’s around her he has butterflies, that feeling of riding on a rollercoaster, how it’s kind of hard to breathe, but its ok because the ride is worth it. But when he’s not around her it’s almost like really bad anxiety, or like hyperventilating, it’s hard to breathe and it’s painful. The tone of the song is loving but also slightly sexual. This is shown when he states “My hands on your hips when we grind [...] Cause I can't go a night without your loving, got me looking at this phone, every time it rings I hope it's you girl.” (J Holiday)

            As stated earlier these three pieces correlate, not just for the fact they all talk about love but also on a level deeper than that. Looking deeper into the text it is shown that all the authors wouldn’t be the same if the person they love, left them. This is shown in “First Love” when the author states “My heart has left its dwelling-place, and can return no more.” (Clare 23-24) This means that he’s heart is no longer his own, if they were to separate, he would be left heartless.  This is shown in “To My Dear and Loving Husband” when the author states “Then while we live, in love let’s so persever, that when we live no more, we may live ever.” (Bradstreet 11-12) The author is thinking that even after death they would still be in love. If they were to separate I believe the author would be more than devastated. She hasn’t even imagine afterlife without him, so how could she make it through the rest of her life without him. Lastly this is shown in the song Suffocate when he states “Now even though I try to play it off, I'm thinking about you all day long.” (J Holiday) Could you imagine thinking about someone all day and not being able to be with them, that is literally heartbreaking.

            The main similarities these three pieces have are that there main theme is love, and the underlying message or theme is the despair that could be cause by separation. The main difference as shown above is in there tones. Of course they all have the loving factor, but there’s the difference of the intensity of the love. As stated above by Professor Brady "Its apart of the human condition to love and want to be loved." This most mean that people have an inherit desire to be loved and want the most intense kind of love. This could be a good and bad thing, although being love and loving someone is a good feeling, it can also cause heart ache if the a person loves someone and they don't love them back. True love is when love is deep and the love is equal among each person.

 

                                                                                                                                              

 

Oppression is Not Only a Thing of the Past.

Pub #3

        Martin Luther King once said “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” This statement means that those who are being oppressed must stand up, and speak out against their oppressor otherwise they will never get the freedom they long for. This quote is demonstrated countless times in history, but also in literature, particularly “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. This short story demonstrates oppression in a subtly way. Although the story may be hard to follow for some, the underline message throughout the text is women oppression.
        Although subtle there are many sign of oppression in this piece of literature. The first sign of oppression is the way the guy tried to simplify the operation (the abortion). The guy states “It’s really an awfully simple operation” (Hemingway 116). If this was the case why were it a possibility that Jig wouldn’t make it out the operation alive. Since the operation was illegal in that time period, people had to go to an underground doctor which made it that much more dangerous. The second sign is the pressure the guy is putting on Jig to have the operation. Sure it seems like he is giving her the option but he really isn’t. This is evident when he states “That’s the only thing that bother us. It’s the only thing that’s made us unhappy.” (Hemingway 116). Also when he states “I wouldn’t have you do it if you didn’t want to. But I know it’s perfectly simple.” (Hemingway 116) Most people want to make their partner happy, so if that is Jigs main focus, which was common in that day for most women, she’ll just have the operation to keep him happy. Also in the second statement the oppression is almost hidden but is still there. At first glance it may not be obvious because it seems like he’s giving her the option but the way he says it, he really isn’t. The way he states “I wouldn’t have you…” and again the mention of how the operation is “simple”
       By the end of the short story Jig begins to stand up for herself, although it is slight. When she is tired of speaking of the subject she tells her partner. When he keeps talking about it she declares “I’ll scream.”(Hemingway 118) This is Jig standing up against her oppressor, she may not have voiced exactly what she wanted but it’s a start. This story reminds me of song Superwomen by Alicia Keys. The first verse of the song states “Everywhere I'm turning, nothing seems complete, I stand up and I'm searching, for the better part of me, I hang my head from sorrow, state of humanity, I wear it on my shoulders, gotta find the strength in me.” I connected this to how Jig must be feeling. She hangs her head from sorrow at the thought of losing her baby, but also at the fact that her partner doesn’t want the baby. But secretly she’s trying to find the voice and strengthen within herself to express her feelings to her partner.

Illusions: Apart of the Human Condition or Only for the Weak?

Pub #2  

 

“I couldn't go on believing her story and live with Stanley" (Stella, 1232).

       In a “Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, his main characters, Blanche, Stella, and Stanley, are prime examples of the human condition. Stanley with his dominance and underneath his insecurities, Blanche with her coping mechanisms which leads to her attempted secret addiction, and Stella with her ignorance and state of denial, which is portrayed in the quote. In today’s time Stanley may seem a little over the top, but would still be seen as a pretty normal guy. While Stella and Blanch would be perceived as mentally unhealthy. Stella not as much but defiantly Blanche. Many of the mental issue with Blanche and partly with Stella are caused by the time period. As known in sociology there are certain folkways (informal norms) that people in society must follow or will be seen as “weird.” In present day folkways aren’t taken as seriously and are often brushed off if not follow but in the past if not followed a person would be a outcast and ostracizes .
       This became the reality for Stella. Though deep down inside she may have known what her husband Stanley really did to her sister Blanche, she could not believe it. Divorce was not common in that day, especial if the woman were pregnant. This is why Eunice stated to Stella “Don't ever believe it. Life has got to go on. No matter what happens, you've got to keep on goin.” (Williams 144) This was the root of Stella’s denial, she refused to become a victim to the truth. If she believed her sister, like the quote stated, she could not continue living with Stanley. If she divorced and left Stanley where would she go? Her only sister moved in with her because she had nowhere else to go, there was no mention of any other relatives, and in that time period they did not have women settlers and places like that. She would have ended up homeless, with a child, and no way to take care of her or the child. So the best thing to do at that time, would be to stay in denial. They often say ignorance is bliss.
       This was also the reality for Blanche, but in more extreme terms. She had a past that she could not discuss, an addiction that wasn't acceptable, and was getting older by the minute. In today’s time Blanche would not be consider “old,” but in that time period she did. When talking to Stella, Blanch declares “Especially when the girl is over--thirty. They think a girl over thirty ought to--the vulgar term is—‘put out.’...” (Williams 84) In that time period it was unheard of for a women of her age to not be married. This is why she created and lived in an illusion, this is why she liked the dark and always tried to create “magic” it was all a part of her coping mechanism. In an article title the “Coping and Defensive Behavior in Four Role Playing Situations” written by Clorinda Hunter, she talks about how coping mechanism are natural psychological defensives. She states “The efforts of the infantile ego to avoid ‘pain’ by directly resisting external impressions belong to the sphere of normal psychology.” This means in order to avoid pain a person will rely on a coping mechanism to maintain comfort. This is what Blanche did, she had a painful past and in order to avoid the pain of the past she created a world where it did not exist. Same with Stella in order to avoid the pain of her reality she lives in denial.

Love is Stronger Than Written Law

Pub #1

       Antigone’s worldview and values are demonstrated countless times throughout the play “Antigone” by Sophocles. Antigone believes that religion oversees written law. This is evident when to Creon, she states “Yes, it was not Zeus that made the proclamation […] I did not believe your proclamation had such power” (Antigone 494-497). This shows the passion of her faith but also the strength in her character. She did not let the things of this world prevent her from doing what she knows is right religiously. Even if it meant going against her own uncle.
      Even though religion was her main motivation, she also was motivated by love. Not only at the opening of the play did she mention “[…] Those we love” (Antigone 12) to Ismene her sister, but also later in their disagreement Antigone stated “But I will go to heap the earth on the grave of my loved brother” (Antigone 93-94). I interpret this as she would go to the ends of the earth for her brother. She valued family greatly. This is also shown when she states “But if I dared to leave the dead man, my mother’s son, dead and unburied, that would have been real pain. The other is not” (Antigone 510-513). Antigone is basically saying the true pain would have been to leave her brother unburied and her to still be alive, that the pain of dying wouldn’t even compare to that. In conjunction with dying for the person she loved, she also believed that she died with honor “No suffering of mine will be enough to make me die ignobly” (Antigone113-114).
       Antigone truly thought her actions were correct, so she felt no need to hide them. This is evident when Ismene states to Antigone “At least do not speak of this act to anyone else; bury him in secret, I will be silent, too.” (Ismene 97-98) Then Antigone responses “Oh, oh no! Shout it out.” (Antigone 99). Antigone states the reason for why her actions shouldn’t be kept a secret in line 103 “I know I am pleasing those I should please most.” (Antigone 103) She knew she was pleasing the gods and that’s all that mattered to her. Her actions not only pleased the gods but also caused the towns people to agree with her actions and mourn for her death. Haemon states this to his father, “The city mourns for the girl; they think she is dying most wrongly and most undeservedly of all womenkind, for the most glorious acts.” (Haemon 744-746) This shows that only Creon thought she should be put to death for actions, though she was a criminal she was “[…] A religious one” (Antigone 85).