English 335 Weblog

Frankenstein

carolinejones88 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:07:33 +0000

My presentation on Frankenstein pretty much sums up my feelings on the novel. To me a large part of the novel is about nature vs nurture, good vs evil, abnormal vs normal, and ugly vs beautiful. Although, the outcast in the novel (the wretch) is a monster, he still plays the role that many people play on a daily basis. It’s the divide between acceptance and also feeling alone and different. Some people are able to embrace their individuality and it can be viewed as a very positive thing. I don’t believe it is necessary to fit the social “norm”, however, the wretch could find noone that he was accepted by. He constantly gave people the benefit of the doubt to only be cast out again. So, he sufferered from a great degree of prejudice and lonliness. I feel as though, if Victor had accepted him, even if noone else did, the wretch would have been able to feel some sort of happiness. Frankenstein actually reminds me a lot of the movie, Edward Scissor Hands, although Edward did find people that accepted he was still ostracized because of his differences.

Frankenstein

samanthablum87 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:04:08 +0000

The Frankenstein monster which I thought of before reading this piece was the traditional image of the green faced, square head creature with bolts in his neck, but that is really not what I got about the wretch after reading the story. I really felt bad for the wretch throughout the story, looking at him as a child in an adult body with the ability to articulate himself extremely well but no companionship or guidance. I think it is important to note that the creature was innately good but through the battle of nature and nurture, his environmental influences seem to win out and cause him to do awful things. The wretch can be seen as a child with no real self control trying to get attention from his parent, even if it is in the form of negative attention, but since the wretch is very large and strong when he lashes out he ends up killing people. I think that the wretch is very affected by the lack of compassion he recieves from Victor and that this interaction shapes his personality and turns him into a “monster.”

Emma

samanthablum87 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:59:35 +0000

Having seen the movie Clueless first and then reading the book Emma, it was really an interesting comparison and interpretation between the two pieces. Of this piece, I really liked the social commentary which was being made about the class system of the time and how it was changing. There was also a strong emphasis on the role of women at that time, present in each of the female characters in a different way. Much of the plot of the story focused on what the women could expect for their futures based on their background and their social status. Emma was a lady and of a good family which made her the highest ranking female unless Mr. Knightley married so throughout the piece she needs to look out for her well-being. She also builds her entire character on what she thinks a lady must be, which is very interesting. There are also female characters presented who are of lower class and must take on different jobs or hope that a man will marry them if they want any kind of future, which is a huge statement about society and gender roles of the time.

Byron

samanthablum87 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:55:19 +0000

I really thought that Don Juan was a really interesting piece just in terms of the piece and it’s relationship to the author. I liked how the relationships really mirrored Byron’s own life, as well as, the issues of control. I think that this piece really played on the idea of traditional gender roles and that the man is supposed to be in control of things. I also think it relys on some of the belief of the time that women were very emotional beings and that they were seductive and sexual and that they were able to use this to kind-of control men. This thought is present in Romantic and Victorian thought and I just found it very relevant in terms of this discussion of the woman as being in charge, especially in charge of the relationship and sexual aspect of their union.

Emma

carolinejones88 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:20:22 +0000

I think the story is pretty funny. I wouldn’t say I necessarily like Emma, because I really don’t, she’s a brat. However, she does make the story a bit more interesting. Nice can, at times, become boring and so Emma’s arrogance at least gives me someone to dislike. What I found most interesting about the novel would have to be the significant parallels between Emma and the movie Clueless. Clueless is a movie that I grew up watching. It was fun to mock the valley girls and just find humor in their everyday lives. In the movie, Cher, who parallels the character of Emma, started off as your typical wealthy, valley girl. She is arrogant, selfish, and completely consumed in money and material things. However, as the movie plays out her obession with changing people to become more like her seems less a desire. She begins to focus on and appreciate the differences in people. As the the movie develops she experiences changes within herself and she matures as a character. The character of Emma experiences the same sort of changes within herself as Cher experiences. For Emma, the plot plays out in a way that helps to correct her vanity and self-delusion. Knightley is the one to help teach her these things and so Knightley takes over the role of Cher’s step-brother in the movie. I think already having seen the movie and knowing that there were several similarities, made the reading of the novel a bit more interesting and an easier read.

Poor Harriet.

ashleyfilipek — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:51:11 +0000

Can you imagine being told not once, but twice the man you admire is in love with another woman? Take it one step further … that woman is your best friend. Poor Harriet! Emma encourages Harriet’s feelings for both of these men and later discovers that both Elton and Knightley are in love with not Harriet, but her. Harriet allows herself to be guided by Emma. She trusts her judgment, her decisions and allows her to become her dearest friend. Emma’s behavior after her discovery of each man’s love, is horrifying. She is afraid to approach this woman who has literally “put all her eggs in one basket” and has trusted Emma’s judgement. Emma only discovers her love for Mr. Knightley after Harriet has revealed her own desires for Mr. Knightly. How messed up is that? When Emma finds that Mr. Knightley’s love is reciprocated, she immediately accepts proposal and is too nervous to tell Harriet (her best friend) of the news. Emma goes as far as sending Harriet to London to avoid her presence. When Emma comes to find that Harriet is to be married to Mr. Martin, shes relieved (not happy for her friend) that she has found a partner is marriage. Emma finally reveals to Mr. Knightley Harriet’s affections for him. Emma chooses to accept Harriets fiance, Mr. Martin, to Hartfield, although he is socially not “up to Emma’s standards.” Emma realizes her relationship with Harriet must “change into a calmer sort of good will,” because she has chosen to marry beneath Emma’s social class. After all Emma has done to mess up Harriet’s life, from telling her to refuse Mr. Martin, to falling in love with Harriet’s ‘infatuation’, she can’t even be friends with her anymore!? Poor Harriet! Boo Emma!

Emma’s Web

bianca87 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:06:42 +0000

While reading Emma, I was quite interested in the webs of romance woven around her. Emma is this rich, popular, beautiful girl who usually gets what she wants. She thinks everyone is positively smitten with her, including Frank Churchill. She is jealous of Jane Fairfax and I believe she is ignoring that Frank likes Jane, or that he could possibly be attracted to her at all.

Mr. Knightly is going to play a key factor in the next volume, as far as the web of love is concerned. I think Mr. Knightly is really taken by Emma, and in the end, I predict that Emma and Mr. Knightly will find love with one another. However, I’m not sure Emma is mature enough to handle it.

Emma is parallel to the main plot of the movie clue. Emma is Cher, the rich popular girl and matchmaker, and Mr. Knightly is Josh, Cher’s step brother from a previous marriage who is kind and friendly, but puts Cher in her place. From this pre-requisite, I think the ending of the movie and the ending of the book will be similar, which I am happy about. I think Mr. Knightly will be perfect for Emma because he is not like the fake Mr. Elton, or the somewhat distant Frank Churchill. It will be interesting to see who will end up with who, and which characters ends get tied up.

Emma: A Space Odyssey?

sbarto — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 02:59:36 +0000

Letter writing in novels was a sort of trend, likely because it was such a common form of communication then. There is the “blessing of a female correspondent” (p195), and the format of journaling appears again in works throughout the 19th century like Frankenstein and Dracula.

Just as Emma’s use of nicknames (instead of the more proper Mr./Mrs.) would have been shocking at the time, Jane Austen’s writing was well ahead of her time. The act of work as a distraction from despair was a common facet of Victorian times; the publication of Emma preceeded the Victorian age by 15 years. Emma claims to be keeping herself busy and that she “must be in love” (p195). This aligns with that common Victorian idea, yet also surpasses it.

Comparing one’s self to society was a paramount feature of the Victorian age, but much of other Victorian literature includes relations to this in journals: the Harkers lament their separation from each other in Dracula, Victor notes his personal horrors in his journal in Frankenstein. Yet Austen does not follow this, at least in this section. Emma typically voices her feelings aloud, and by her “saying” it instead of writing or merely going through the actions (i.e. working and distracting herself from her own feelings), it suggests that Austen has created a character to surpass the Victorian age, 15 years before it began. She seems to mock the characteristics that later characterize society. By this mocking, it’s as if Emma has time travelled past the Victorian age all together, and skipped the victimization of the highly conservative age.

Quirkiness in Emma

mollie335 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 02:06:47 +0000

I was amused by Emma’s conclusion after Frank Churchill’s departure that she wasn’t in love with him. Yet, she considers the possibility for quite some time. I have a feeling that her match-making skills are, even regarding her own romantic interests (although she seems determined to have none), once again, off.

I am not sure what to make of her criticism of Jane Fairfax for being too reserved, because it seems that she is annoyed by Miss Bates for the exact opposite reason: her long-windedness. I’d be interested to read of a conversation between Miss Bates and Mrs. Elton to see who could speak the most about nothing in particular. I think Emma is merely jealous of Jane for her musical abilities.

In this novel I find that the most trivial points are fussed over. I laughed at the awe given to Mr. Weston for joining company after he’d been working all day.

I am curious to read about the interaction between Frank and his allegedly sick aunt in Volume III.

Emma

rholmes267 — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:34:25 +0000

This story bothers me a little bit. Mainly because Emma seems like such a spoiled brat and she thinks that she should have everything her way. In order to get everything how she wants it she says that she will change it so that it fits her ways. Also, the way that she plays with peoples lives with her match-making is also disturbing because relationships are serious things and to her the people she is fixing up are like chess pieces. She makes certain moves with them and makes them react to one another. But the interesting thing about her match-making is that she has vowed to never marry so in a way it’s like she is scareed to be with someone herself so she just messes with everyone elses lives in order to please her own sick and twisted fantasy. I think that she needs a man in her life in order to be truely happy and for everyone else to be happy because then she would leave everyone else alone. But if she was to get a life of her own there would not be a story because the main story is Emma messing with everyone elses lives to suit her own happiness.