Journal #18

Journal 18 -“In Another Country”

1. What is the significance of the story’s title?

It shows isolation, and someone being an outsider. He tries to learn the Italian language, but he finds it much harder once he looks more into the language. It shows that being somewhere for a short time may be easier but once you have to really immerse yourself. Also, they are all outsiders because of their injuries.

2. Which character do you think best represents the “Hemingway hero”? Why?

The fencer bests represents the major because he had so many hardships in his life with the loss of his wife and is angry and resentment. He realizes that his hand will not get better, but he still is going to keep fighting to get better and make his hand as best as possible.

3. What can you infer about the photographs the doctor hangs up? What is the significance of the major’s reaction?

The pictures were fake, but he uses them to motivate the people in the machines. They don’t realize the lengths they have to go to, to rehabilitate themselves so he puts the pictures up to show that they can do it, and that they can rehabilitate them fully. The major’s reaction of not really responding to his questions about the pictures shows that he knows that he's not going to get better. He is sort of hopeless, and it goes back to his own world of isolation.

Journal #17

1. What is the significance of the poem’s epigraph? How does it relate to Prufrock?

The epigraph of this poem is a six-line quotation from Canto of the Inferno by the Renaissance Italian poet Dante Alighieri .. the italian term " Inferno" means the horrors of Hell. It relates to Prufock in the sense that Prufock would not normally share his story, so the poem represents his private thoughts. They both are glimpses in the people’s minds and what they really are.

2. Make a list of questions that Prufrock asks. Do you see a pattern/theme to these questions or are they random?

The questions are very random, and have a pattern of whether or not he should do something. He seems very unsure with everything

Questions:

Should I eat a peach

Should I party my hair form behind

He frequently asks ‘do I dare?’’.

3. What do you think is Prufrock’s main flaw/problem?

Prufock’s main flaw is his biggest sense of insecurity. He is very unsure of everything in his life. He is talking about a women that he wishes to tell how he feels, but he does not because he is too afraid.

4. Why do you think this is called a love song? In what way is it a love song?

It is not about love as what we think of love. This song is full of Irony because it’s about him being alone, and self doubt. It’s not a love song, and it is all about him being self conscience and is not involved in any kind of love relationship. He is expressing his lonliness and alienation.

Journal #16

Read the following quote and discuss how it applies to the main characters in both stories. In the course of this discussion, address how each of the characters is both similar and different:

“Determinisim governs everything … The writer must study the inherited traits of individual character and the social condition of the time. Together, these elements determine the course of any action, the outcome of any life. Free will or self-determination is mostly an illusion, although chance is granted a role in human affairs. Still, even the effects of chance are obliterated in the inevitable course determined by the interaction of inherited character traits and the social environment.“

In the case of “The Blue Hotel”, the surroundings around the Swede are key factors to the outcome of the movie. He was a very socially awkward man, but the environment he was in was all about being social, as well as drinking. He thought he was in the Wild West when he entered the hotel, so his guard was already up. The encouragement of others definitely predetermined what was going to happen. The blending of personalities was a clash that cuased the death of the swede.

During the story, “To Build a Fire”, environment and fate played a huge role in his death. There was just no way that the man could have surivived in the wilderness. He was simpy not fit enough, as no other human would be. His personality also caused him to not survive. He was too confident in himself, and did not listen to any warnings given to him. It was all fate that he died, having his personality and the environment clash.