Rachael’s Blog

       Towards the beginning of the film, Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus and Rezia are sitting in the park and Septimus begins to act up. He has visions of war and explosions. This sort of choice by the director leads us to believe that he has some psychological issues and that they might have an impact on the storyline of the movie. I thought this was intriguing, especially because I was questioning why Rezia would walk away from him when he was going through these flashbacks instead of trying to help him. In addition, I thought this scene was very different from any other pieces we have looked at in this course. In other works, women have been portrayed as more of the caregiver and had motherly traits whereas Rezia just walked away when Septimus was needing help. This is very different from the dynamics of the relationships we have seen in other readings and films.       Throughout the film, and specifically at the end, we are also shown that Clarissa ...

          In the second half of The Awakening by Kate Chopin, similar ideas and themes were represented. The first quote that I chose stated, “She began to look with her own eyes; to see and to apprehend the deeper undercurrents of life. No longer was she content to ‘feed upon opinion’ when her soul had invited her.” This quote is speaking about Edna and her individuality. Throughout the novel, she is becoming more and more independent and is gaining the willingness to express herself how she wants, regardless of what people are going to think of her. At this point in the novel, people’s opinions are having no impact on her behaviors and decisions, which is an outgrowth of her rejection of social standards, as well as her growth in independence.  The second quote that I chose was, “She felt like some new-born creature, opening its eyes in a familiar world that it had ever known.” I pulled this quote from the last chapter of the book because I thought...

       After reading the first part of The Awakening by Kate Chopin, many themes that we have been exploring in class were represented. The first quote that stood out to me was, “‘Leonce, go to bed, ‘ she said I mean to stay out here. I don’t wish to go in, and I don’t intend to. Don’t speak to me like that again; I shall not answer you.’” In this, Edna was relaxing outside on the hammock when her husband, Leonce, was yelling at her to come inside and go to bed. Edna stood up for herself and told him she didn’t want to go inside and that he should basically leave her alone. In this, we see that she has more power as a woman, specifically a wife, than other women have had in past readings. As we read more modern women’s literature, there is a trend in the more power that women are getting in comparison to men.       The second quote that I pulled was from Edna again and she stated, “I suppose this is what you would call unwomanly; but I have got i...

“Fame is a fickle food Upon a shifting plate Whose table once a Guest but not The second time is set Whose crumbs the crows inspect And with ironic caw Flap past it to the Farmer’s corn Men eat of it and die” The poem Fame is a fickle food by Emily Dickinson brings up a few good points about fame. In this, Dickinson refers to fame as a fickle food, which is a constantly changing food. She talks about how fame is constantly shifting and unpredictable. In this, I think that the author explains fame as a tangible object in order to allow readers to understand her message more clearly.  At the end, Emily Dickinson states, “Men eat of it and die.” I thought that this line was very aggressive, at least the way that I read it. In addition, I think that by this line, she meant that fame can be very harmful, and can eventually lead people down the wrong path or quite literally to death. I am not entirely sure if this is what she meant when she was writing this poem, but I interpreted it as...

       The first quote that stood out to me from Part Two of Silas Marner by George Eliot stated, “‘I’m a worse man than you thought I was, Nancy,’ said Godfrey, rather tremulously. ‘Can you forgive me ever?’” At this part, I was sort of taken by surprise because in many other readings we have done, men have so much power over women and would never even think about admitting to a woman that they were wrong. In this, he was asking for forgiveness from Nancy, which was striking to me based on how men have acted in past readings and movies we have watched in class. In addition, Nancy was confrontational towards Godfrey, which was also something that we haven’t seen much of.       The second quote that I pulled from the reading I found in the last chapter; it stated, “‘To my old country—to the town where I was born—up Lantern Yard. I want to see Mr. Paston, the minister: something may ha’ come out to make ’em know I was innicent o’ the robbery. And M...

       The first quote that stood out to me in Silas Marner by George Eliot stated, “They had, perhaps, heard their fathers and mothers hint that Silas Marner could cure folks’ rheumatism if he had a mind, and add, still more darkly, that if you could only speak the devil fair enough, he might save you the cost of the doctor.” I thought that this quote, found in the first chapter, was a good way to start the reader off with a hint at what some of the novel's conflicts were going to be about, along with a good insight into what everybody thought of Silas Marner. In addition, one of the novel's main themes is around religion, which would make sense because people in the town suspected that Silas Marner had some sort of connection with the devil. It also opens up the novel for some mystery, considering nobody knows much about Silar Marner, especially not on a personal level.       The second quote that I thought was interesting from the first part o...