In the novella “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” the realization of death in the future is the only way that Ivan Ilych is able to understand and see life as it truly is. Throughout his entire life, he never lived a full life; his job decisions, his marriage, and friends were all created without passion. Ivan led a hollow life until he grew ill from a seemingly innocent injury and began to the flawed indifference that society had. After his first doctor’s visit, he comes to the conclusion that “for the doctor, and perhaps for everybody else, it was a matter of indifference, though for him it was bad,” (pg. 296).

From that day on, Ivan became more aware of the reality of his illness and the fact that his life previous to it was meaningless. I find it ironic that the arrival of death for Ivan is what forced him to realize the fake people and world in which he made a point of surrounding himself. He, who was once a man who took pride in the superficial and hollow social aspects of his life, was now “left alone with the consciousness that his life was poisoned…and that this poison did not weaken but penetrated more and more deeply into his whole being,” (pg. 299). Even though he calls this illness a poison, I think that it actually was his one chance to break apart from the pathetic rut that he called life. Although in his eyes he was pitiful and somewhat deserted by his family—wife in particular—as a result of the illness, he ended up shedding his superficial layers and discovering the harsh reality of life under all of the fluff that he once enjoyed so much.

I started out looking down upon and lacking respect for Ivan and his life, but after learning of his “reality slap” and seeing him also hate the very fake and deceiving world that I despised so much, I ended up feeling pity and appreciating his change of person, despite how late it came in his life. I felt relief to know that finally Ivan had realized that everyone was going to die when he said “…they will die too! Fools! I first, and they later, but it will be the same for them,” (pg. 301). That quote is the epitome of the contrast between the life Ivan left and the life he came into after his illness. It is clear that the rest of society has the conception that they will never die, as seen in Peter’s comments at the beginning, however; there is hope that not all are so naïve in the way that Ivan mentions this occasionally throughout the rest of the novella.

The Affects of Corruption

The novels Heart of Darkness and Waiting for the Barbarians both represent the corruption of an empire in two different ways. Each novel shows how an empire will assert itself to be superior to another race; however, the way in which corruption is conveyed is different between the two novels. While Heart of Darkness is narrated by the “lawful” Marlow, Waiting for the Barbarians conveys the corruption of the Empire through the eyes of the Magistrate.

In Heart of Darkness, the empire inflicts its corruption upon the inhabitants of Africa. Unlike Waiting for the Barbarians, Heart of Darkness shows an empire’s mentality when going to a foreign land to enforce its ideals. The ongoing theme represents the concept of “the white man’s burden.” Throughout the entire novel however, the reader observes not how the African race is inferior, but rather how disgusting and inhumane the white people were who had invaded the natives’ land. In addition to the given perception of the white people, the reader is also exposed to the corrupt empire through the information Marlow gains from Kurtz’s letters. In these notes Marlow reads Kurtz’s deterioration of morals and lawfulness. Coming into Africa, he was a respectable man similar to Marlow; however, over time the corruption and competition got to him and he grew to be an unlawful person who thought disturbing thoughts such as “Kill all the brutes!”

On the other hand, Waiting for the Barbarians conveys the Empire’s corruption through the Magistrate’s perspective; instead of seeing it through the gradual downfall of a character, Waiting for the Barbarians depicts the Magistrate’s rejection to the corrupt tendencies of the Empire. Upon the arrival of Colonel Joll, the Magistrate begins to doubt the intentions of the Empire. He sees how Colonel Joll and his men tortured the innocent barbarians then claimed they were free from blame. In the Magistrate’s own way, he rejects the Empire through taking one of Colonel Joll’s ex-prisoners under his wing, attempting to nurse her back to health, and eventually bring her back to her people. Throughout the novel the Magistrate grows more and more intolerant of the Empire’s cruelties and injustices until he hits a breaking point and publically shouts “No!” against Colonel Joll’s violence inflicted upon the Barbarians. The Magistrate had progressed to the point of no return and from then on, he defies the authority of the Empire any chance he can get (including the time he “reads” the letters as an allegory).

In conclusion, both novels analyze the affects an Empire’s corruption can have on individuals. Heart of Darkness recounts the inner deterioration of his morals as a result to the corruption and Waiting for the Barbarians observes a character’s inability to tolerate the harsh and immoral actions done by the Empire. (462)

First Impressions of "Waiting for the Barbarians"

After finishing the first assignment of reading of Waiting for the Barbarians, I still can’t decide whether or not I like the novel. While reading, I found myself enjoying Coetzee’s style of writing; I appreciated the fact that he uses adjectives to describe characters and settings sufficiently but never overloads a subject with meaningless descriptions. Every now and then Coetzee throws in a word beyond my vocabulary, such as “obdurately” and “maieutic,” however, generally his diction is clear and understandable for me.

I am extremely fond of the speaker of this novel. I basically liked him the second he started talking about the peculiar pieces of glass in front of Colonel Joll’s eyes called “sunglasses.” I definitely was influenced by the speaker’s biased voice when he described Colonel Joll because I too disliked him from the minute he was introduced. As it turns out my feelings were justified from hearing about how he tortured innocent prisoners. Although I was influenced by the speaker’s opinions of the Colonel, he did not convince me to have disgust towards the barbarian woman as he initially did. Throughout the time while she slept in his bed with him I kept hoping that he would realize his true love for her. At times I was teased into thinking that he was falling in love with her. However, he admits, “Nor…does the pleasure I take in her, the pleasure whose distant afterglow my palm still feels, go deep,” (63).

In regards to the content of Waiting for the Barbarians, I initially thought I understood where the plot was going but then as I continued to read on the plot seems to jump around and now I have no idea what this novel is leading to. At first it focused more on the Empire and its dealings with the barbarians, including Colonel Joll’s adventure to capture prisoners and question them; after, the plot transitioned to the speaker’s personal life with women and his “relationship” with the barbarian woman and how his life has changed becoming an old man. Then it continues on to somewhat of an adventure story while they take the journey to take the barbarian woman back to the barbarians. At this point I am not sure about the overall identity of this novel but I am curious to see how it ends up. (389)

Main Points of "Social Progress and the Rivalry of the Races" by Benjamin Kidd

• · Progress is a necessity, and within progress there is constant rivalry/competition between living things in the world

• · Because of the stress of nature, there is a constant improvement that continuously leads to higher and better forms of life

• · The “features of Western civilization which are most distinctive and characteristic, and of which we are most proud, are almost as disastrous in their effects as the evils of which complaint is so often made.”

• · With the individuals who have all of the better qualities than those who died out, but also the “conflict [is] sternest, the nervous friction [is] greatest, and the stress [is] severest.”

• · We need to look back honestly on the vices of our civilization in order to truly understand the current social problems

The Ending...

In my opinion, The Sound and the Fury is left with hardly any resolution. Mrs. Compson, as usual, treats Dilsey disrespectfully and dramatically assumes that Quentin, cursed like everyone else in the family, committed suicide; Jason goes chasing after Quentin with a vengeance relating to the job he never got; and Dilsey remains to be the only mother figure for Benjy and Luster. Faulkner places the setting of the last part of the novel to be on Easter Sunday. I personally believe that the suggested theme of rebirth from the church scene is used to contrast the state of the Compson family (if you can still even call it a family”. At this point, rebirth or a new beginning is unrealistic; the Compsons are set in their screwed up ways and there is no chance of any of them changing for the better. Therefore Faulkner uses the theme of rebirth to emphasize the pathetic state of the Compsons rather than to exude the promise for their future. To further support this theory, The Sound and the Fury ends with Dilsey realizing that she is near death. As a result, the single constant in the novel, Dilsey, that attempted to hold the Compsons together is now close to death and therefore ensures the complete deterioration of the family.

(217)

Symbolic Themes in The Sound and The Fury

As I read through the articles, I came upon “Meaningful Images in The Sound and The Fury.” While other articles were overtly complex, this one, written by Eben Bass, made perfect sense to me and shed a new light on the symbolic aspects of this novel as a whole. Bass acknowledged images including the white slipper, the pear tree, the mirror and the fire. Many of these I had not even come near to realizing were significant. Yet, his arguments convinced me that these symbols actually play major parts in recurring themes throughout The Sound and The Fury.

While Eben Bass mentioned multiple “meaningful images” in The Sound and the Fury, his discussion of the pear tree made the greatest impact upon me and made the most sense. He makes the connection between the habits of Caddy and the habits of Quentin, Caddy’s daughter, through their mutual use of the pear tree. According to Bass, either symbolically (Caddy) or physically (Quentin), both Caddy and Quentin reveal their promiscuity through climbing or descending the tree. Quentin’s situation is much more obvious; she literally descends this tree repeatedly “to meet her many lovers.” On the other hand, Caddy’s relation to the tree and her sexuality has a much more obscure connection. Bass refers to the event in which Caddy climbs the tree, after getting muddy, in order to see what the “party” was like in the house. While climbing the tree, Caddy reveals her dirty drawers. From this, Bass makes an observation that I would never have noticed on my own. He said, “It is Caddy’s dirty drawers that offend Quentin [her brother] in the childhood scene; these anticipate her many ensuing love affairs.” I thought this statement was extremely interesting and fits perfectly into the rest of the story. In conclusion, I look forward to finishing The Sound and The Fury with these new revelations about the various symbols in this novel. (341)

“Meaningful Images in The Sound and the Fury”, by Eben Bass

Modern Language Notes ©1961 The Johns Hopkins University Press.

English Presentation

The Impact of Society in “I Stand Here Ironing”
“I Stand Here Ironing” is the interior monologue of a mother struggling to identify where the responsibility resides for the troubled upbringing of her daughter, Emily. While the unknown character who asks to meet with the mother appears to believe that the mother plays a major role in understanding her daughter’s troubles, the reality is—and as the mother discovers through her inner conversation—that society and its pressures had a great impact on Emily. The mother clearly feels guilt for her daughter’s unhappiness in childhood; yet at the same time she recognizes her limited ability to raise Emily any other way because of the society’s restrictions. Olson implements her own frustrations towards society through exploiting the mother’s struggles while raising a baby on her own. Olson, as a result, criticizes numerous flaws in the society at that time. These imperfections include the unequal treatment of women, the lack of good childcare, the low pay for basic jobs, and the societal pressures to act, dress, and look a certain way.

Upon being asked to meet with an unknown person and give advice about her daughter, the mother reacts defensively and inwardly responds that even though she is her mother she does not “have a key” to the locked-away reasons for her troubled daughter (3). The mother notes that some of the sources which contributed to the development of Emily were beyond her ability to control when she comments, “There is all that life that has happened outside of me, beyond me” (2). Additionally, the mother mourns over the fact that financial difficulty while Emily was a little girl inhibited the mother from being able to provide her with the best childhood. She said, “We were poor and could not afford for her the soil of easy growth” (55). Because of the extreme difficulty in finding a job during this time period in addition to the low pay that was offered, the mother was forced to leave Emily with her father’s family. Emily’s experience at her father’s house, according to the mother, stripped her of some of her happiness and the mother noticed that “all the baby loveliness was gone” (11). Instead, Emily was “walking quick and nervous like her father” (11).

Olson expresses her criticism towards the poor childcare of this time by calling nursery schools “only parking places for children” (12). The mother realizes the negative impact of putting Emily in the nursery school when she knew it was not adequately meeting Emily’s needs at the age of two. The mother recounts how Emily would often come up with fake reasons to stay at home, away from the evil teachers. However, Emily never made an outright refusal to go. As the mother is remembering these events, she suddenly feels a pang of guilt and responsibility and asks herself, “What in me demanded that goodness in her? And what was the cost, the cost to her of such goodness?” (16).

From the very beginning of Emily’s youth, the mother noticed that society did not appreciate Emily’s unique physical appearance. When Emily was a baby, her mother told her she was beautiful; however, the mother recalled that those who noticed her beauty were “few or nonexistent” (5). Even as a child in school, society’s pressure wore Emily down; she worried about her thin, dark, foreign-looking appearance because according to society “every little girl was supposed to look…a chubby blond replica of Shirley Temple” (35). In a society where looking different was unappreciated, unique-looking Emily fell into the shadows. She never had best friends and at the convalescent home she stayed in, the community did not want her to get close with anyone there. As a result, Emily became removed from society because she did not fulfill the requirements to “fit in”.

In conclusion, because of the pressures in society, the young Emily struggled throughout her childhood. Olson exploits society’s flaws through making these imperfections be responsible for the insecurities and troubled feelings a child developed while growing up. Additionally, Olson shows that in spite of the pressures Emily experienced, to her mother, Emily is “more than [the] dress hanging on the ironing board” but rather she is a unique woman with an individual talent and a look of her own (56). (719 words)

What type of tone do you think the mother is talking in? Whiny, regretful, defensive?
Why do you think Olson chose to write the story through the mother’s thoughts?
Do you think the ending was positive or negative?
Do you think the mother could have done anything better? Or do you think she did the best she could do with what she had?