Picture Analysis

“2.7 million children in Egypt don’t have a childhood.” This compelling public print ad wants to bring awareness to millions of Egyptian children who must forgo childhood in order to begin working a make enough money for their families. The ad depicts a young boy working in a repair shop fit for a grown man. He is shown to be a boy who is already living the life of a grown man. Robbed of his childhood, he spends much of his time working; he has no time to play. The boy is so small that he wouldn't be able to reach many of the tools without climbing on a ladder. The shop is dirty and many of the tools in the background appear dangerous. This is not a fit location for a young boy to be. The boy on the left side of the picture who is seen wearing a blue and white flannel shirt is already growing patches of gray hair on the sides of his head, symbolic of the stress and hard work that this boy has to endure. The skin on his face is worn like that of a grown man who does laborious work. On his forehead, the boy has a scar, likely from an accident while working, an indication of the dangers of his job. Bags are apparent under his eyes due to the lack of sleep. However, despite his body showing signs of stress and overwork, the boy’s eyes still retain the innocent look of a young boy. As he looks the viewer in the eyes, he sparks a sense of awe that would make anyone feel bad for flipping the page of their magazine without doing anything to help him.  The colors in the picture are very washed out which give the picture a very dreary tone. The lack of vibrant colors indicates the lack of fun which is instead is replaced by dull times. What’s powerful about this ad is that it reads, “2.7 million children in Egypt don’t have a childhood.” The sheer number of children who are working in these conditions and deprived of their childhood because of work shows that this is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. In the bottom right of the ad, it says, “Call Us. 012 1817 555” The font is so small however that it is difficult to read the number which hurts the cause if those who want to help can’t do so because they can’t read the number to call.  This ad speaks to everyone, including people who have lived a privileged childhood and now from firsthand experience the joys that it should bring and people who come an underprivileged background and understand the hardships that you must endure to survive in similar situations. Similar incidents of child labor used to happen in the United States before child labor laws were passed that prohibited employers from working young people in unsafe conditions. Though Egypt has similar laws, they seem to be ineffective in solving the problem.

The Snow Man

The Snow Man

“One must have a mind of winter 

To regard the frost and the boughs 

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time 

To behold the junipers shagged with ice, 

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think 

Of any misery in the sound of the wind, 

In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land 

Full of the same wind 

That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow, 

And, nothing himself, beholds 

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.”

                                ~Wallace Stevens

            While reading Grendel, we have discussed illusion vs. reality. On page 22, Grendel says “I create the whole universe blink by blink.—An ugly god pitifully dying in a tree!” which suggests that one’s reality is based upon perspective and that everyone is the creator of their reality. As a result many ideas aren't necessarily universal such as good or evil. Similarly, in “The Snow Man”, Wallace Stevens suggests that your idea of reality is influenced by your perspective. In the poem, Wallace compares the different descriptions of winter from the viewpoint of a person whose reality is just what he sees and a person who uses their perspective to understand and form his own reality .

            The first stanza of the poem describes winter in a very non-objective way.  There are no interpretations. It is just a description of what is simply there. However to do this, “One must have a mind of winter”. I believe this means that for someone to see winter for what it is without casting judgment on it such as whether or not they like winter, they must view it with detachment and indifference.

             Now the description of winter in the second stanza sharply contrasts the description of it in the first stanza. While in the first stanza Stevens depicts winter with a very cut and dry description, in the second stanza he offers interpretations and analysis of winter. He describes winter as “cold” and the spruces as “rough” and thus he is offering his judgments of winter. The second line of the stanza begins with “To behold” which gives winter a wondrous and mystical representation.  The reason why this stanza differed so much from the first was because he allows his own perspective and interpretations of reality to influence his description of winter.  This reveals the impact that our own beliefs and viewpoints have on our interpretation of reality. For example, in Grendel, the Shaper doesn't change what actually happens, he changes the Dane's perception of the events. 

              The third stanza however suggests that it is human tendency to try to interpret the world around us. Rather than just observing, humans analyze and try to give meaning to things. As a result our own perception is always shaping our perceived reality and thus two people can have different understandings of reality even in the same situation. However if we didn't do this, we would simply be observing without interpreting and understanding what we see.

              The fourth stanza suggests that we still observe the same things even though we interpret them differently. There is a universal “sound of the land” that we all share. Also there is “the same wind that is blowing in the same bare place” and no matter where you are, you experience that same wind.

              The poem closes by indicating the necessity of our own perspective and interpretations when observing the world. Without it, we observe without understanding. In doing so we see “Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is” and instead end up seeing nothing. 

The Similarities between the "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and Winesburg, Ohio

Although not apparent to me upon initially reading “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” after reading Winesburg, Ohio, I now see many similarities between the works. In many ways for example Prufrock is portrayed like a grotesque as defined in “Book of the Grotesques”.

Firstly, the structures of both works are very fragmented. Prufrock can be divided up into six sections that each appear to have their own meaning. Each fragment of the poem reveals another aspect of Prufrock’s story; however, there are reoccurring themes that are present throughout the story that connect the fragments together. To gain a full understanding of the text, each fragment must be read in context of the rest of the poem interpreted with the greater meaning of the whole poem in mind. Similarly, Winesburg, Ohio, which is a short story cycle, is told in fragments of bits and pieces of time in George Willard’s life.  Again, though each chapter is a separate story of its own, each story adds to the greater meaning of the work as a whole. In both works, this fragmentation is indicative of the isolation experiences by characters—Prufrock in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and the grotesques in Winesburg, Ohio. They are unconnected parts whose separateness is contrasted by their desire to be part of a whole.

            Consistent with the fragmentation, a lack of understanding is also a reoccurring theme throughout both works. Throughout the poem, Prufrock seeks understanding so that he can answer the “overwhelming question”. Prufrock presents the dilemma of the meaning vs meaninglessness of life in a mundane world. Prufrock also seeks understanding from others and he feels alienated because he is unable to properly communicate. He says “That is not what I meant at all/That is not it, at all” on line 97 and “it is impossible to say just what I mean!” on line 104 which reveals his desire to not only gain a personal understanding, but to also be understood by others.  Likewise, the grotesques in Winesburg, Ohio are characterized by a lack of understanding and the inability to communicate. Many of the grotesques for example don’t fully understand what makes them grotesque such as Wing Biddlebaum who says “There’s something wrong, but I don’t want to know what it is. His hands have something to do with his fear of me and of everyone.” Due to their lack of understanding of the nature of their grotesqueness, the grotesques are stuck in this state as they are unable to break free from it. They can't free themselves from it because they don't know what causes it. In addition to this, like Prufrock, the grotesques also are unable to effectively communicate with others. Enoch for example, “knew what he wanted to say, but he knew also that he could never by any possibility say it” which strongly represents Prufrock’s quote where he says that “It is impossible to say what I mean”. This lack of communication leads to the alienation of Prufrock and the grotesques and ultimately limits them from gaining the fully understanding that they seek.  

Analysis of an Interesting Ad I found

This is an advertisement for Marmaluzi, a brand of baby food.  The advertisement uses a whimsical tone to ridicule the idea of frozen meat being used in baby food. At the very top of the picture, written in font probably taken from a 1970’s horror movie, it says Frozen Meat. This simple change in font, which is too cliché of a horror movie to actually scare anyone anymore, gives the two words a mockingly dreadful tone. Directly under, in a very small and plain font, it reads Sounds like something out of a horror movie, suggesting that frozen meat being used in baby food is a “scary” idea; using frozen meat in baby food is something we should fear. At the fore front of the picture is a zombie like frozen chicken shooting green laser beams out of its eyes with its sale tag still attached to it. The women and children in the ad are running away from the chicken like anyone who was being attacked by a giant chicken with laser beam eyes would. The ad implies that it is common sense to run away from baby food that is frozen meat and to definitely not buy it for the baby.  The giant chicken also suggests that frozen meat is unnatural and unhealthy which is indicated by the the green goo and zombie-like appearance of the chicken. The fact that the chicken is giant further emphasizes the significance of the choice to feed your baby frozen meat or not. One of the stores has a sign that says FRESH MEAT. The frozen chicken’s attack on the fresh meat store symbolizes the effect that frozen meat has on companies that that don’t use frozen meat. Frozen meat is cheaper to produce than fresh meat and thus can be sold at a lower price. As a result, it runs the companies that sell fresh meat out of business and destroys them, similar to how the giant frozen chicken in the ad is about to literally destroy the fresh meat store. The destruction that the giant frozen chicken is creating could also be illustrative of the damage that frozen meat does to the body as it is a cheaper but less healthy alternative to fresh meat.

To promote its product, Marmaluzi attacks its competitors and depicts how its competitors' products lack quality rather than emphasizing how Marmaluzi’s products are of good quality. According to the ad, the horrifying nature of frozen meat should make Marmaluzi's fresh meat the clear choice. In the bottom left of the ad, next to three jars of baby food, it reads, “ Malmaluzi is the first and only baby food prepared using just-picked produce from Lithuanian farms. Never frozen, always garden fresh.”  This statement is at the bottom of the ad and written in small font due to the fact the emphasis of the ad is the lack of quality in the products produced by Marmaluzi’s competitors. The ad aimed at mothers or baby caretakers serves to convince them that they should buy Malmaluzi for their babies because it uses only fresh meat.

Response to "Tandy"

            Last week during class, we had lit circles about various stories in Winesburg, Ohio. However, due to a lack of students, we were unable to have a lit circle on the story "Tandy". Though this is one of the shortest stories in this short story circle, Anderson manages to provide a compelling commentary on the role of woman within its four pages.
           In the story, the stranger defines tandy as "the quality of being strong to be loved. It is something men need from women and that they do not get". Throughout history, women have been treated as weak and subordinate to men. However this definition of tandy, "something men need from women", gives power to woman by stating that tandy is a feminine trait that men need. Although men need women who are tandy, being tandy isn't a trait that is universal to all women. The stranger tells to the girl, "Be Tandy, little one. Dare to be strong and courageous...Be brave enough to dare to be loved". Since the girl must "Dare to be strong" and "brave", it implies that being tandy is trait that she must work for; that being tandy isn't a trait that all women innately possess, but is a quality that they must strive to achieve. The condition of being tandy is also described as "something more than man or woman", which gives it a divine or transcendent quality. At the very end of the story when the girl insists on being tandy, she is accepting the responsibility to achieve the divine quality of being tandy.
           The story of "Tandy" was especially relevant during the time period that Anderson wrote Winesburg, Ohio. 1919 was during the heart of the feminist movement. Possibly Anderson believed being tandy was the "new quality in women" that women needed in order to revolutionize how they were treated in society and their perceived roles in society.
           The stranger who names the girl Tandy is portrayed as a prophet like figure. Out of all men, he is the only one who knows the difficulties of being a woman and even says "Perhaps of all men I alone understand." At the end of the story, he is also described as bestowing a "vision of words" that the girl grasps on to as truth. It is ironic that Tandy's dad pays very little attention to her while the stranger views her as the next generation of tandy women. The girl's father embodies the old view of women in which they were mistreated and neglected in society.
            The narrator never says the name of the stranger or the name of the girl before she was named Tandy. By not stating the girl's name, it further emphasizes the importance of her new name and that her role before being named Tandy was insignificant. Now the word Tandy literally defines her. By not stating the name of the stranger, it underscores his irrelevance as an individual. He is not important as an individual; he is just the medium in which the girl discover tandy. At the end of the story, the stranger simply wakes up one morning and boards a train back to his home town in Cleveland.

Analysis of "Mirrors" by Sylvia Plath

" I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. 

Whatever I see I swallow immediately 

Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. 

I am not cruel, only truthful ‚ 

The eye of a little god, four-cornered. 

Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall. 

It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long 

I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers. 

Faces and darkness separate us over and over. 

Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me, 

Searching my reaches for what she really is. 

Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon. 

I see her back, and reflect it faithfully. 

She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands. 

I am important to her. She comes and goes. 

Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness. 

In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman 

Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish."

~Sylvia Plath

      Sylvia Plath, in her poem "Mirrors", embodies the relationship between one's inner and outer selves. The narrator is a personified mirror. The mirror understands and interprets what is sees. In the poem, a woman is obsessed with the image that the mirror reflects of her. She continually returns to the mirror to analyze her appearance. Later, the narrator becomes a lake. The lake, who unlike the mirror, has depth, can see through exterior facade and peer into her inner self. Through the woman's relationship with the mirror and the lake, Plath reveals the tension that exists between one's true inner self and the self that they falsely project to others.
         The poem begins with the mirrors describing itself as "silver and exact". The mirror wants to qualify itself as portraying a true image of what it reflects. The mirror doesn't  reflect what the viewer wants to see; instead it reflects what is actually there. It isn't "cruel, only truthful". However the mirror has more power than it acknowledges. The mirror is catoptric and shapes the light in a manner that the viewer can understand.  The mirror is facing a pink wall which implies that it is the part of the household used by the women. The poem was written during the beginning of the feminist movement. The poem possibly seeks to criticize the emphasis that women place on their exterior appearance. The mirror who claims to innocently reflect what it sees, shapes the lives of the women who use it and who's lives revolve around the image that it reflects. Habitually, the women return to the mirror to check upon their appearance. However, the outer self that the mirror reflects is only a facade that the woman hide their inner-selves underneath.
        In the next stanza, the narrator is a lake. Like the mirror, a woman uses the lake to look at her reflection. However the lake has depth and doesn't only reflect the woman's exterior appearance, but also allows her to see into her inner self. The lake allows her to see "what she really is". However the woman is upset with what the lake reveals. Each time she looks at herself in the lake, she sees her fleeting youth and youthful beauty. She cries because she is witnessing the loss of the beauty that she has emphasized throughout her whole life. However the woman also cries because the lake reveals something about her inner self that doesn't align with want she wants to be. She uses the candles and the moonlight to change her reflection in the mirror. However they are "liars" and only the mirror will "reflect it faithfully". The woman is saddened because she knows the lake reflects her true inner identity. As her outer beauty fades, the woman fears the day when the faults that the lake reveals in her inner self will manifest themselves in her outer self. In the last line, the woman is compared to a terrible fish, which is a personification of her transformation into an old woman.
     

Mary Shelley's Quotation of "Tintern Abbey" in Frankenstein

“The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to him
And appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm.
By thought supplied, nor any interest
Unborrow’d from the eye.”

When I first read Frankenstein, I didn't even fathom the significance of Mary Shelley’s quotation of “Tintern Abbey”. However, after analyzing the poem in class, I have recognized why Shelley quotes the poem and what the quotation signifies.  In Frankenstein, Shelley incorporates Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” to contrast Clerval’s and Victor’s views of nature. The poem highlights that Clerval and Victor are FOILS of each other to underscore qualities of each character that could otherwise be missed if the reader hasn't already read “Tintern Abbey”.

                 Shelley quotes “Tintern abbey” to define Clerval’s relationship with nature. Clerval’s relationship with nature is similar to Wordsworth’s relationship with nature when he was younger. Like young Wordsworth, nature is a source of joy for Clerval. He relishes in its beauty and enjoys nature for what it is. On their voyage to London, Victor describes Clerval’s reaction to nature as, “The scenery of external nature, which others regard only with admiration, he loved with ardour”.  This portrayal of Clerval’s relationship with nature aligns with young Wordsworth’s relationship with nature that he describes as “Their colours and their forms, were then to me/An appetite: a feeling and a love,” Both of them view nature as a necessary source of happiness and enjoyment.

                While Clerval’s relationship with nature is representative of Wordsworth’s relationship with nature when he was younger, Victor’s relationship with nature parallels Wordsworth’s relationship with nature when he was older. Because of his experiences, Victor has gained a deeper insight into nature than Clerval. While Victor can still appreciate the pleasure that nature provides, he doesn’t love it with the same boyish passion as Clerval. Instead, nature is a source of sublime tranquility for Victor. He has gained a deeper understanding about the world and life from nature that he didn’t originally have.  When he is despaired, he reflects upon nature and is restored by the “blessed mood” that it generates for him.  

Clerval’s and Victor’s relationship is comparable to Wordsworth and his sister’s relationship in “Tintern Abbey”. Victor sees in Clerval “what I once was”.  Though they are of similar ages, Victor has a more mature view of his surroundings. When Victor was younger, he viewed nature with the same “former pleasures” that Clerval does.  Victor is reminiscent of these older views of nature and finds pleasure in watching Clerval interact with nature just as Wordsworth enjoys watching his sister’s reaction to nature.

                Because of their contrasting views of nature, Victor and Clerval are foils of each other. While Clerval simply enjoys nature for the beauty that it is, Victor tries to understand and control it. Clerval may be illustrative of what Victor could have been like if he wasn't so obsessed with knowledge and hadn't created the creature. Unlike Wordsworth in “Tintern Abbey”, who appears to be unsure of which view of nature is better, Victor believes that Clerval’s view of nature is better than his own because in achieving this deeper connection to nature, Victor has heard the “sad music of humanity” and has subjected himself to many difficulties.