Journal #6- Blood Wedding

Youth plays a big role in this scene. With the Bride, her youth is slipping away as she is about to marry the groom. One of the guests made a comment "Today a maiden, tomorrow a woman" This helps us understand why the Bride is frustrated with her being forced into the institution of marriage, because she will lose her youth in the process. This can tie into the theme of time in the play, because it is running out at the same time that she is losing her youth. Also, I see youth in the guests and other characters in this play. They pretend to act as the bride and groom around the Bride, almost intensifying the loss of youth in this scene. Finally, the Maid shows youthful tones in her poems and songs. There are references to flowers especially, which also link into the theme of fertility because the Bride (who is suppose to have children soon) is still young, but no longer will be as youthful as she wishes because she'll be tied down in her marriage to her groom. It is almost as if Lorca is secretly saying that youth is wasted when one gets married because the Bride is no longer care-free, but instead must be tied down to duty and obligation.

Journal #5- Blood Wedding

I feel that Lorca does use many archetypes in seemingly conventional ways. First off, let's look at metals. With reference to Leonardo and his family, there is mention of copper and other common, industrial metals. This is in contrast to the Bridegroom's home where he wears a gold chain. Lorca contrasts these two to show the difference in wealth of the 2 families- which is also clearly shown in the way Leonardo's Mother-In-Law talks about how the Bridegroom has lots to spend. Also, Lorca conventionally uses flowers in these scenes as well. The rose is often used as a a symbol of beauty in both scenes. But what's more interesting is the use of this flower in the song versus when the mother talks about the child. She sings to him as 'my rose', but then she tells her husband he's been a bit more of a dahlia that day. Dahlia flowers were introduced to Spain because of the conquistadors who discovered them in the new world. I am guessing that Lorca is using this reference that the child seems foreign or distant- because he is also sick. Also, flowers are used in a somewhat non-traditional way in differentiating class. The Bridegroom's house has 'large pink flowers', whereas Leonardo has 'everyday flowers'. I think that this key difference shows how the two contrast financially. Finally, there is this idea of presents in Scene 3. Usually, getting a present is a good thing. However, for the Bride the presents of her coming marriage bother her. Here, Lorca uses the twist of an archetype in a conventional way. The presents act as a Trojan Horse in her case, because they seem to bring good pleasure, but on this inside they bring nothing but trouble for her because they do not give her what truly makes her happy. (Which would be Leonardo's touch in this case.) Overall, the symbols are generally used in a conventional matter, just in different ways in this section.

EDIT: So I didn't understand exactly what Mrs. Wecker meant by 'archetype' specifically for this journal. So, now that I understand this is, let's look at the characters' archetypes.

As far as the archetypes in Act 1 Scene 2, the Wife and Mother-In-Law closely follow what is usually described as being a caring mom or grandmother. Also, Leonardo seems to be a regular man taking care of his family. I feel that Lorca uses this simplicity to make the Wife and Mother-In-Law feel comfortable with their position in the family. It is so then they do not expect Leonardo to run off with the Bride at the wedding, so they suspect nothing of going to the wedding. In Scene 3, The Bride definitely does not follow the archetype of a bride- being blushing, beautiful and ready for marriage. Instead, she seems timid then tied-down by this institution. This definitely hints towards her escape with Leonardo and the rationale behind her runaway bride attitude. The way the Mother and Father act is also very stereotypical of parents who treat marriage like a business transaction. For this reason, it is understandable as to why they get frustrated when the bride runs away. Also, the Father seems to be one of those dads who always believes the best in his daughter. However, this archetype shows how he is blinded by his delusion of his daughter's loyalty.

Journal #4- Blood Wedding

Two symbols that I saw emerge in Act 1 Scene 1were flowers and knives and how they represent life and death. I saw Lorca using this almost exclusively with the Bridegroom's Mother. The first reference to flowers comes as she is ranting on about knives, and says that her husband was a beautiful man, with life like a flower in his mouth (pg 6). I thought this was an interesting phrasing of words, so I looked up the phrase 'like a flower in his mouth'. Turns out this comes from a play from an Italian writer called The Man with a Flower in His Mouth, and in this play, a man is reminiscing about his life as he is about to die. This can extend easily back to Blood Wedding because of the Mother's belief that her husband lived this great life worth of reminiscing about and then it was ended by a knife, aka relating to death. I also found Lorca's use of having flowers describe males fascinating. Mother is constantly describing her late husband and son as various kinds of flowers, but then again she wishes that the Bridegroom was female. Females are more generally linked to flowers because of fertility. So by this, I see that the Mother is struggling with female identity in a sense that she wants her world to become more feminine even though she longs for the lost men in her life. As far as knives go, I find this to be interesting as well. The knife represents death obviously, but I also find that after this conversation about the knife in the first lines of the play, Mother resorts to talking about how she wishes that her son was female and she gets excited when talking about lace stockings for her soon to be daughter in law. I find this to suit well with this previous observation about how the mother deals with gender. She seeks talking about the comforts of femininity and overall wishing things in her life to be more female. I even see this relating to the end of the novel when she makes up an argument for letting the Bride not have to die. It is as if Lorca is suggesting something about the female connection to life and death that makes women seek out other women even in lamenting men.  

The Wild Duck Journal #3

I don't think that the question 'who is at fault?' for Hedvig's death is 100% valid. Gregers definitely didn't expose the truth so that a child would die. The biggest problem with this whole ordeal is that no one considered the most important puzzle piece in this mystery- being Hedvig herself. None of the characters explain to her about her past nor would it (most likely) be told in the right way. I would say though that Gregers should be mindful of his actions though. Essentially, if he had minded his own business, maybe Hedvig would actually be alive. I could see the truth unfolding correctly only in 2 scenarios in terms of what was best for Hedvig. Either Gina and Werle should have been honest from day one or it should have just been a secret. I think that it is the fault of all of the charcters who knew though to keep quite and mind their own business. The only character who I could realistically see being without fault would be Old Ekdal, considering that he is somewhat delusional and can't always tell what's going on in his surroundings. I think that the biggest person to blame would be Relling in the end- because he sees what Gregers is trying to do and does nothing to stop him from meddling into another's affairs. Also, I'd partially blame Hjalmar and the way he treated Hedvig when he came into the house again, because I think that was the final straw for her and not feeling loved. Overall, none of the characters truly take any responsibility because they don't stop Gregers from exposing the truth and Hjalmar is very much at fault for his rude interactions with Hedvig in the moments before she killed herself. 

The Wild Duck Journal #2

I feel the main point of this motif of disease is to show weakness in humanity- but represented in a physical form. On page 133, Werle talks for the first time about how his eyesight is leaving him and how he can't see clearly. At the same time, Gregers 'sight' of the situation involving Werle's love child Hedvig becomes clearer. However, this metaphor clearly extends to page 135, when he then talks about how Gregers sees him though 'his mothers eyes- which were clouded at times'. It is as if Gregers has figured him out, and Werle is trying to say that Gregers's vision is clouded, except for the fact that it's Werle's perception that truly is clouded because he cannot see that his secret is being figured out. Also, I feel that with this parallel in Hedvig's vision, Ibsen is trying to say that without the truth, Hedvig's life only becomes more complicated as she is not exposed to the truth. On page 178, after a heated discussion about morals, Hedvig says 'this is all so strange to me'. She appears to be innocent, however in her mind there is no clouded perception. This becomes an issue later on when she does not understand why her father does not love her, and ends up shooting herself- she does this because she thinks she has a clear perspective on a situation, however in reality Hedvig does not. Also at the end of Act 3, Relling talks about the moralist fever, which I understand to be Ibsen's idea that those who try to meddle in others affairs have a disease. I think that Ibsen is trying to highlight that truth is good, it is also destructive when the wrong person exposes the truth of a situation. They have this disease where they always want to show the most moral decision of a situation, however they are the wrong person to do so.

The Wild Duck Journal #1

The one character that really stands out to me in terms of boundaries is Hedvig. She is bound by her youth/ perceived innocence and by her gender. I think that Ibsen points out something significant about childhood through her character though. Yes, Hedvig doesn't know the entirety of her story (in reference to her being an illegitimate child) which hinders her perception of how the adults view her. She feels as if it is her fault that her father is angered by her in the end of the novel and ends up shooting herself because she feels that there is a new boundary formed between her and her father. I think that this can be key in society in general- many people fear of telling children about life situations, however by keeping it a secret they may also be doing them a disfavor. Also, there are boundaries in general with Hedvig's perceived father Hjalmar. Her dad always seems so busy with his photography/ invention that he does not even help teach her at home. This separation I think helps Hedvig identify with her mother and become a servant to her father in turn.

This servant-like mentality I also see with all three females in the play. It's almost expected of them to be submissive, as they all act as if the men are somewhat breakable and are always ready to help. I think this can show a gender boundary  of the time period, that women are suppose to aid men in their endeavors and the men are suppose to lead. However, Hjalmar goes against this because Gina ends up doing most of the photography work for Hjalmar while still being a housewife and mom. Ibsen's use of boundaries is fascinating in that sense.

Dystopian Journal #3- Brave New World

A motif that is prevalent early in the novel but now really comes to life in this last 3rd of BNW is that of Shakespeare, especially in chapter 17 when John is talking with the Controller. It was difficult for me to understand a lot of these references because I hadn't read a lot of Shakespeare, but I think that's Huxley's point to a certain degree. I think he's trying to show that those who aren't as educated in Shakespeare in a rather educated society are already doing themselves a disfavor because we (and ultimately I) allow this BNW scenario to eventually happen because of our (and my) ignorance. Many people today would probably go see a movie, go out shopping or eat at a nice restaurant rather than sit down an read literature and John was semi-forced to do (having no other friends or options for entertainment really). But then again this motif of Shakespeare references can ultimately link back to what Huxley is saying for this chapter, and for the entirety of the novel. The World State makes everything in life quite comfy in order to have people not rebel against the state. However, this doesn't allow for the people to grow as human beings or truly be challenged. John says on page 238 "You got rid of them. (He's talking about mosquitoes in reference to a story he's just told.)Yes, that's just like you. Getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it." By getting rid of the obstacles, everyone in the society lives this overly cushy life. Even with VPS, the citizens of the world state are still being cushioned, while losing the values which have made human society what it is today.

The Park Lane Hospital for the Dying is a new setting that helps show John how corrupt and vulgar the society really is for him and his enlightened mind. The fact that people bring in children to condition them for death, the fact that this society wants those who aren't perfect to be eradicated is repulsive to John. And the fact that everyone who works at the hospital takes soma and lives as "children" of the state is also frightening to John as he does not live in a new world of goodness, but of wickedness. This event, along with the experience with the controller, allows John to want to get out the World State and live on his own again, which may seem odd. He'd lived his whole life in isolation, and now he's choosing to be alone. I think this is significant of the author's ideals though. John would rather live in isolation as he did before because of the problems with the World State. Also, the fact that he only has two places to live- the Reservation or the World State, also drives John to a form of madness where he hurts himself. I think that the setting of the hospital and the setting of the Savage camp, and ultimately the World State as a whole and the Reservation all show as to where John fits in this new world. In either society, John is either an outsider because of the way he looks or because he doesn't follow the customs of the society/ doesn't agree with the values system. At the end of the day, John- as enlightened as he may be, is an outsider even in pursuit of what he really wants. However, what he really wants (poetry, art, God sin, real love) is all meant to be shared with another person, and because he can't have that in any setting, he is doomed for a downfall.

The language Huxley uses in this last part in BNW shows a frightening portrayal of those in pursuit of a story or money. In the last chapter as John sets up his isolationist camp, reporters from around the area begin to hear and see what's going on with John. As the reporters try to talk with him, John responds back in Zuni phrases. This language of agitation helps show how frustrated John is, but also how logical he is compared to those in the society. At one point, a reporter tries to convince John to take soma because "Pain's a delusion" (pg 251). But then when John threatens him by attempting to throw a rock at him, the reporter from the Fordian Science Monitor (clever Huxley, clever) runs back into his helicopter. I think that with this set-up in another's outrageous thinking  Huxley does show how crazy  people in the society really are. And it's only when logic comes up against them that they try to escape the pain they think doesn't exist. At the very end of the novel, after John has partaken in the orgy and has woken from his soma induced coma, the only words he utters are "Oh, my, God, my God!" (pg 259) and then in the next few paragraphs it's shown how he's killed himself. I think that this language tries to show how shocked the society must have been. In their minds, someone must be mad if they are unhappy taking soma and partaking in an orgy. However, now they see someone be ruined by this, they start running as the novel describes in the end, in scattered directions, as if this Savage has confused their paradigm of thinking. I think the language John uses and the language used to describe how John dies helps show how the people in the society are confused, and possibly disturbed by this other way of thinking.