"We Are" by Facing New York

We are the young men, we are the desperation.
We are a nervous wreck, we are the anxiety.
We are the broken coin, the begging boys at your door.

Call me the wasted time, the aging adolescence.
Call me a bad sign of everything that's to come.
Call me the crooked line, the field of ice.

And I know I must move on.

We are the broken hearts that got lost or set astray.
We are the unemployed, still tangled up in our dreams
This is a new sign, the last chaging of the day.
It's time to grow up, and move away...

The words here invoke a sense of hesitation, nostalgia, and regret.

Each line here begins with a two word, two syllable phrase: we are, call me, etc. None of the lines rhyme, except for the last two.  There are a couple instances of alliteration, but they seem almost like coincidence rather than planned. Almost no structure exists in these words, when read without hearing the music.

Hearing the actual song will give the words more rhythmic cohesiveness, but the music backing the words is odd itself. The song plays in a moderate 4/4, but the harmonic rhythm moves in odd locations, with the chords changing on "and" and "a" of 2 and 3 in each measure. Various reverb and delay effects on the track give the song an ethereal quality, adding to the words nostalgic implications. It's as if the sound is a memory or somebody looking back their past.

"Metaphors" by Sylvia Plath

Most of the lines in this poem have denotative meanings of being fat, full, or large, in someway or another. After obtaining some internet advice, I found that the poem is about pregnancy, which makes a lot of sense. The first line of the poem is "I'm a riddle in nine syllables." The poem is made up of nine lines with each line containing only nine syllables. This repeated use of the number is representative of the nine months of pregnancy. Every line is a metaphor for being bigger while pregnant, for example: "A melon strolling on two tendrils," and "This loaf's big with it's yeasty rising." The speaker in this poem is, as stated, a pregnant woman, if not a pregnant Plath herself. Judging by the words she has chosen, it seems that the speaker is not happy with her pregnancy, or, at least, not happy with her psychical appearance and feeling, comparing herself to a melon and a elephant. Yet, out of all the negatively charged metaphors, there is one line of positivity. The line "O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!" suggests that perhaps, even though she is not happy with herself, there is a child inside her waiting to be free and that brings her a certain level of joy. Plath ends with the line "Boarded the train there's no getting off." This line relays a message of acceptance. Maybe not enthusiasm, but she knows the responsibility she has taken on.

Sonnet #7

And all of a sudden they felt like selfish intellectuals

No longer will they concern themselves with that aging stew

They only sit, watching and waiting, for the rest of their spectacles

Sections of that tenement are rotting, the earth will not chew.

But She drags herself up those stairs everyday

And He refuses to ever leave the room

She asks him, "Are we going to stay?"

He tells her, "The gates open at half past noon."

So it goes, they finally walked out

On the roof, the rest of the tenement was staring at the gun

On the outside, they are thankful for doubt

Not long after, that tenement melted in the heat of the sun

In our minds, We are fighting a war

Who are you fighting for?

Review: "The Glass Menagerie"

I wonder if, in real life, Laura would continue to break out of her shell. I'm hopeful that she would, but I cannot help but doubt it. But perhaps that's the point. Laura gives the broken unicorn because she is going to go back to her normal ways. Perhaps the heartbreak Jim inflicted convinced her to stay in her shell. She imagined the unicorn had an operation to have the horn removed to feel more at home with the regular horses (1042). Here, she seems optimistic in no longer being shy, but then Jim shatters that dream when he reveals that he is engaged. The act of Laura giving the broken unicorn to Jim as a souvenir then going to the record player and putting on her music, shows that she is retreating back into her world. I feel bad for Laura, as I'm sure many of us would. She is what kept me reading. I feel bad that she has to stay home alone with her mother after Tom leaves.

It is unfortunate that Tom desires to forget his sister. It is understandable that he is sick of his mother and must leave, but to completely put Laura out of his mind is too much, I think. Though, of course, I understand the necessity for him doing so. But what will become of him now? He is no more knowledgeable about himself or what he wants out of life. He is now just wandering the land, it seems. Where is the growth in his character? He leaves home out of spite and anger, and is still just as lost as he has ever been. He can never run from his memories. He will always carry the guilt of leaving his sister and causing her to loss all hope in ever being free from her own insecurities.

Review: "The Yellow Wallpaper"

1. Which objects, actions, or places seem unusually significant?
     The room and the wallpaper. The woman, or women, hiding in the wallpaper. The creeping. John's suppossed authority in the field of medicine. John's sister, Jennie. The way the words are printed, being a new paragraph almost every sentence.

2. List the specific objects, people and ideas with which a particular symbol is assoiciated.
     The room represents the main characters oppressed lifestyle. The wallpaper is her ability to look at her life and tear it apart, either piece by piece or all at once. It could also represent her creative nature, her ability to look at something and turn it in to something else. The creeping women are all women who have to creep around their husbands or any other men for that matter. John authority in the field of medicine is never explained or proven. We just assume that because we are told he is a doctor that he is one. His authority is implied and mirrors most male-female relationships. Jennie represents any woman who unquestionably puts herself below a man.

3. Locate the exact place in the story where the symbol links itself to the other thing.
     On page 265, right at the beginning of the story, in the first few lines, the narrator says, "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that." This line already sets up the oppressed woman theme in the story. On page 269, the narrator speaks of Jennie and how "she is a perfect and enthusiastic housekeeper, and hopes for a no better profession." I think this line shows expresses the narrator's, and perhaps the authors, disapproval of woman like Jennie. Later in the story, after the narrator peals of a large strip of the yellow wallpaper, which may be yellow to represent cowardice, Jennie says, "...she wouldn't mind doing it herself..." and the narrator responds , in thought, with "[Jennie] betrayed herself at that time" (277). The narrator sees that Jennie has the desire to be free, but chooses refuses the urge.

4. Ask whether each symbol comes with ready-made cultural associations.
     Of course, each symbol comes with ready-made cultural associations. These associations go beyond human life. In nature, or so it seems, the female of most species are the dominant animal. They are usually the stay at home mothers, so to speak. The stigma surrounding a creature such as the black widow spider, in which, apparently, the female eats the male after mating, is not one most woman wish to be associated with.

7. Be specific. Identify the exact place in the story where a symbol takes on a deeper meaning.
     At the end of the story, the narrator becomes the woman hiding in the wallpaper. Actually, she becomes the woman who used to be hiding in the wallpaper. The point is the narrator ripped off all the wallpaper. She cannot, and will not, ever go back to hiding in the wallpaper. She literally says, "I've got out at last... And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back!" (278).


Checklist numbers five and six are not answerable questions. They are suggestions, so I skipped them.

Review: "The Things They Carried"

The theme I plucked out of this story is basically on maturity. Most, if not all, of the soldiers are probably all in their early twenties, which is my age. So even though I am not participating in a literal physical war, I understand, somewhat, what Jimmy was going through. Here, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross struggles with this guilt of losing Ted Lavender. He blames himself due to his careless while daydreaming about a girl back home, who may or may not love him. Most stories, it seems, that are based on war time experiences, or set during war time, are about how war corrupts. But this story was different. Though the story is not necessarily an uplifting one, the ending of shows a great change in Jimmy's attitude and mind set as a leader. Throughout the story he goes on about a girl back home, whom he loves, but does not, he believes, love him back. This distraction causes him to lose focus on his task as the leader and thus he loses Ted Lavender to a bullet. He blames himself for Ted getting shot. At the end of the story, he burns the letters and photographs he has of the girl back home and decides to crack down as a leader. He tells himself, "no more fantasies" (534). I know, for myself, this is something I have to constantly remind myself of. I'm no longer living in a fantasy world. No more protection from my parents. There is no God. I am only me and what I do is who I am. Being the leader, the man Jimmy is, or forces himself to be, has a direct affect on the soldiers he is leading. Morale and correct action can be, or maybe is, the deciding factor between life or death on war, and also, maybe, in the world we live in, which soldiers may refer to as the fantasy world. Jimmy realizes he cannot dwell on the past. He must live in the present and be prepared for the future. His life and the lives of his soldiers depend on it.

 In the end, Jimmy rejects love. We know "he [is going to] show strength, distancing himself" (355) from his men in order to enable himself to be the leader he needs to be. All the soldiers physically, and mentally, carry much weight, but Jimmy carries letters, which weigh no more than ten ounces. When Jimmy realizes he needs to change, it's because he realizes that he carries all the soldier weights combined. He burns his letters and takes on the weight of his soldiers. He must be tough. He must be strong. He must endure.

Review: "A Haunted House"

Strange read... I must have read it twenty times and I still can't figure out exactly what it means or exactly who is talking. I find it interesting, though, that this story would be in the setting section of the book. It would seem, to me, to be better suited in the point-of-view section. At least, that's what I thought until my twenty-first read. Once I got away from trying to figure out who is talking, I began to focus on what the words were actually saying. I took myself out the readers role and placed into word's world. I had not thought about reading this story that way, though, to an experienced reader, maybe it would seem like the obvious method of choice. Either way, once I did, I realized why this story is in the setting section.

"A Haunted House" 1921

The author here is described an old house supposedly haunted by a ghostly couple. It seems there is another couple, or perhaps the same couple, which I wouldn't doubt is the case, narrating about themselves looking for themselves in this house. I imagine the story taking place in a Victorian style home. As cliche as that is, it seems fitting considering when the story was written. Though the Victorian Era is technically over in 1921, the houses would still exist. Though, I 'm not sure how many Victorian houses have or had farms... The continuous mention of a wood pigeon bubbling reminded me of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon. I can't say specifically which one, but I had this vision of reeds being blown in the wind and pigeons making their sound.