Plays are watched - not read.

"I made the last payment on the house today.  Today, dear.  And there'll be nobody home.  We're free and clear.  We're free.  We're free... We're free..." (pg 1630).

While I still don't see why every play has to have random background music tell me what the mood of the characters, the flute seems to be a common sound in this play.  I hesitate to say that it "obviously" shows the true sadness behind what Linda was telling he who turned her into a widow.

So the question asked about the irony in the requiem and I must return to bullet points for this part of my post.

• My above post points out the new freedom within the two; however, she makes it seem as though they are free in the same ways.  You see, Willy was free from himself, his pride and his stress, but Linda was not.  Linda was free from her worries about Willy and the financial burden that the family was under.  Granted, I am not truly sure whether Linda would rather have kept Willy around...
• The other is a dramatic irony.  Willy bragged multiple times about how when he had a funeral, people from all over New England would be coming to it because of how "well-liked" he is.  Not to copy an adjective from Bryan's blog, but "cocky" seemed like nice word choice (upside down chocolate cake, to steal Mrs. Sander's phrases).  Lucky Poor Willy was not even around to see how many few people came to his funeral.

The Requiem was a nice addition to the play to expound on Willy's tragic flaw.

"Those Winter Sundays"

"Sundays too my father got up early

and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,

then with cracked hands that ached

from labor in the weekday weather made

banked fires blaze.  No one ever thanked him."

In this poem, Robert Hayden indirectly characterizes the father by his work ethic.  I noticed that the entire poem seemed to reminisce on the hard work of an unappreciated father.  Hayden really stressed how the people around the father reacted, along with some of the work he does (like chopping wood to keep the home warm) to portray the father as a respected member of the father.  The speaker in the story definitely seems regretful of not showing his/her father the love he/she the respect he deserved.

The overall mood of the poem is that of childhood regret.  The main regret seems to come in the form of the speaker's regret in not telling his/her father how much he/she respected all of the hard work put in by the father.  The title of the poem definitely expresses either a very negative or meaningful weekly tradition, but is clearly very memorable none-the-less.  While the speaker seems to fondly remember the Sunday mornings, the speaker definitely has some unique feelings attached with the memories.

I really hope that this poem did not have a deeper meaning or highly metaphoric meaning, because I absolutely did not find one.

Never Let Me Go - Twenty

"'I keep thinking about this river somewhere, with the water moving really fast.  And these two people in the water, trying to hold onto each other, holding on as hard as they can, but in the end it's just too much.  The currents too strong.  They've got to let go, drift apart.  That's how I think it is with us.  It's a shame, Kath, because we've loved each other ll our lives.  But in the end, we can't stay together forever'" (pg 282).

Why must every book end with the main characters parting ways, dying or both?  This metaphor used by Tommy to explain Kathy and his departure really brought the friendship to a nice conclusion.  It really reminded me of the clown and balloon metaphor from when Ruth was ill.  I hate how the entire book had had such an upbeat mood, but in order to truly show the themes, Ishiguro decided to end the book with such a powerful statement.  The entire novel, I was dead set that the major theme was that wisdom comes with time and experience, but now I almost think that it could be more within the power of knowledge.

When Kathy and Tommy actually learned about their pasts, instead of being appreciatory about all that had been done for them, they seemed to just let it roll off their sleeves and almost seemed offended.  I really see this novel as a warning sign for the present way that the scientific community seems to be progressing.

I just read the questions at the end of the novel and one of them talked about the power of the group that was stressed at Hailsham.  I just realized how that differs from what I had previously thought.  It seems that throughout the novel, people were stronger when others were with them.  This seems to be a different take on Huxley's Brave New World where they wanted solitude by the end.

Now that I am done with my blogs, I feel like summer is over.  So sad.

Never Let Me Go - Seventeen

"Of course, I'll never know for sure, but I think she did understand.  And even if she didn't, what occurs to me now that she probably knew all along, even before I did, that I'd become Tommy's carer, and that we'd 'give it a try,' just as she'd told us to in the car that day" (pg 236).

So earlier I pointed out that I hate how so many books, like Brave New World, seem to get to that point where the author does not really know where to go so they start killing off the main characters until the ending just finds itself.  Never Let Me Go has given small hints the entire way that this would be the way the book would end, but with four chapters to go, I really do not think that this is novel will end on a sad note.

With Ruth's "completion," the mood of the novel has taken a large step forward.  When Ruth was still alive, her and Kathy got into many debates, leading to an uncomfortable reading.  Ruth's diminishing health seemed to have Kathy reanalyzing their friendship and seemed to have given herself more hope for the future.

The excerpt also foreshadows to a nice relationship between Tommy and Kathy for the upcoming chapters.  I will be very disappointed if these last four chapters become a "Debby-Downer," but I really do not think that it will.  If I remember correctly, the novel did allude earlier to Tommy's death, so I could see that happening, but I do think that the novel will end up being in the present time which would not allow for Kathy to die.

Brave New World - Sixteen

"'Oh, God, God, God...' the Savage kept repeating to himself.  In the chaos of grief and remorse that filled his mind it was the one articulate word. 'God!' he whispered it aloud, 'God!'" (pg 207).

This outrage by John effectively shows the mood of the novel at this point.  Reading through this excerpt, I actually found myself reading "God" as if it had said "Ford."  The use of God seems odd for John to say since he would not have had access to a Bible in the reservation and would not have heard it during his stay in the Hatchery.  This outbreak from John clearly portrays the distress of him versus the rest of the Brave New World's dying.

For some reason I feel like Linda's death may have been the climax of the novel.  John unleashing his uncontrollable grief and remorse seems to have indicated a stronger mind set in changing the ethics of this odd world.  We now have Bernard and John very eager to see an end to the dastardly actions brought about in the Hatchery with what appears only Mustapha in their way.  I really am not sure how this outbreak could back fire on John (possible expulsion back to the reservation?), but I do think that he will continue to play a key factor in the end of the novel.  I also hope that the mood of the novel goes back to being more chipper.  Nothing is worse than ending a book feeling sad.

Brave New World - Eleven

     "'I ventured to think,' stammered Bernard, 'that your fordship might find the matter of sufficient scientific interest...'
     'Yes, I do find it of sufficient scientific interest,' said the deep voice.  'Bring these two individuals back to London with you' (pg 141)."

 This dialogue seems to be a nice time to portray Bernard Marx as dynamic character since it shows a new, more confident side of Marx (the nature of the proposal, that is, not the way he stammers it); however, since I have not seen the repercussions of the situation, I cannot say that with certainty.  Marx wants to bring John and Linda back to the "Other World" for what seemed to be just a random act of kindness, but this quote from Marx seems to contradict previous assumptions.  It appears as though the true motive of bringing John and Linda to London is to psycho-analyze two of the more sane of the savages.  Also, it may allow them to conclude the faults that were found within Linda.  This seems completely uncharacteristic of Bernard Marx's presumed dislike of many of the Hatchery's bizarre ethics, but I suppose being under the spotlight may have made him feel the pressure of doing something to prove his loyalty.

This dialogue also seems to show a synecdoche (Mozilla just told me "synecdoche" should be spelled "Indochinese") when Huxley portray Mustapha Mond through merely his "deep voice."  I figure this could be sort of a symbol of change in Marx.  Portraying someone through simply an overbearing presence seems to be a common theme for people speaking with Bernard, but this time, Marx did not back down or "blush."  The overall mood of the diction surrounding Bernard seems to show some emotional changes in him, but I would not be shocked if I just read way to far into that nice and short chapter.