Wild Duck- Journal #2

Ibsen uses the motif of alcohol to represent the the corruption of truth in the novel. Werle gives alcohol to old Ekdal and Hjalmar to keep them from telling the truth or learning the truth. At Werle's party, he offers plenty of alcohol to the guests which both HjLmar and Ekdal attemded. "I hear[...] music room." (121) For example Old Ekdal is the only person that knows that Werle was involved in the scandal that lead to Ekdal's imprisonment. If Ekdal were to share this secret with the community this could diminish the respect that Werle has gained. This is why Werle uses alcohol to suppress Ekdal. "Well[...] better." (130) Werle then uses alcohol to hide the truth about Hedvig from Hjalmar. When Hjalmar is at the party Werle doesn't hesitate to supply alcohol for Hjalmar. It is clear that alcohol supresses his mindset: "Absolutely not[...] then we'll have it cozy." (145) Ibsen uses this motif to represent the control that Werle contains over the community.

Wild Duck- Journal #1

In the Wild Duck Gina and Hedvig face many different limitations throughout the story. These limitations are due to the gender roles that Ibsen portrays in the novels. For example, Gina and Hedvig never leave the house and are always doing something for Hjalmar. Most of the time they are working on Hjalmar's projects while Hjalmar continues to get the credit. Next, Hedvig is limited by the control that Hjalmar has over her. Hedvig is always trying to please and make him happy however never succeeds. This leads to her suicicde because she thinks that it will please her dad in a very weird way. This emotional boundary is created through Hjalmar's character when he neglects Hedvig by never noticing her as a person, or the things that she does for him. This creates an emotional strain on Headvig in which she is never able to please her father. Hjalmar has his own internal and external limitation in that he is blinded by the lies that Werle tells him. He doesn't question what he is being told rather accepts it as fact and moves on. This is internal because it is a mental problem but is external because it is influenced by an outside force. This goes into the idea that Hjalmar is not able to think for himself. This is shown in the novel when Gina and Hedvig are always doing his work.

Dystopian Journal #3

Setting: Throughout the novel the society begins to evolve as imagination becomes more relevvant in the citizens. Through the Operation, the government tries to rid their perfect society of rebellion by removing the imagiination from citizens. This shows the progression of control that the government has from the beginning of the novel to the end of a novel. In the beginning of the novel, the use of a society based on definite answers to control the citizens to accept the government's answers as what is right. But as those answers continue to not please I-330 and her followers rebellion becomes an infection, in the government's eyes that is, that I-330 helps develop in D-503 as he begins to gain a soul. The operation was designed to remove the imagination from the citizens within the society to make a happier society. But by removing imagination from the society the thought of rebellion is extinguished giving the government more control over the society. "A mercilessly sharp black triangle on the white: 'What? You don't want happiness?'"(162)

Motifs: In the final third of the novel,an interesting motif of hair followed that of the facial features in part two. The wall had just been broken down and people who live outside of the wall are described as hairy people. When D-503 is questioning the government and contemplating rebellion with I-330, he reaches out to grab an object and decries his hand as hairy and how the hand was the square root of -1 inside of him and he wanted nothing more than to get rid of This hair or the square root of -1. In this context the hair represents freedom, the want for freedom, or rebellion. Through this bodily feature the author Conveys that the want to rebel or the want for freedom is normal however you must tread carefully because it can leand to something out of control. "But what you didn't know[...] And we, MEMPHI, we want..." (144)

Language: The final third contained significantly less dialogue than in the previous 2/3 of the book while having longer and a larger quantity of descriptive paragraphs describing a character's thoughts, actions or a major event that occurred during the book. Through this method I believe that the author is trying to pull the reader's attention away from character interaction and push the attention toward different elements of the book. For example in the end of the book D-503 is describing his interaction with the benefactor that caused the death of I-330. During this monologue the author tries to show the effect of government on citizens. "the next day[...] because reason should win." (202-203)

Cultural Connections: I feel like in a way this can be connected back to the society that we live in today. Because even though the United States stands for freedom and liberty, new laws can and have been created to Limit the freedom of the citizens in the united states. For example the espionage and sedition acts during worked war 1 were created to prevent the citizens from talking against the government during a time of war which completely goes against the 1st amendment right granted to the citizens of the united states.

Dystopian Journal #2

Setting:
Throughout the second third the story mainly takes place in the ancient house where D-503 meets with I-330. While in this ancient house D-503 begins to develop an imagination with the help of his new lover I-330. I think that the ancient house is the "origin" of the authors motifs and symbols for D-503 and the entire novel. "A second's pause at the door [...] I died" (85) In tis one quote the auhhor describes all the colors that are reoccurring regusrky throughout the novel: green, red, and yellow. And then it also mentions the mirror door, and earlier in the novel he was describing people's eyes as mirrors. So I think that the house itself could represent the community while the doors represent the guardins preventing the citizens from going outside of their dome.

Motif:
The author continues to make facial features very important throughout the second third however eyebrows are now the reoccurring feature. Through this feature the author expresses D-503's mindset. For when his eyebrows are normal he is calm. But when they are "mangled, broken" (97) D-503 is very frustrated. During this instance he just received a letter from I-330 and he was tearing up the letter in frustration. The author also uses other facial features to shown when D-503 is describing his new soul by describing a line that travels in-between his eyebrows. I wonder if it is possible for the line to be caused by his subconscious frustration with the rules that must be followed. However he knows that this is not allowed in his society so he tries to deny his new feelings.

Language:
During the second third the author adds a lot of hyphens along with different breaks during dialogue or when the main character is describing his own thoughts. "the letter [...] my feet" (97). I think that the author does this to maybe convey the complexity if the thoughts or task at hand. Another theory I had was that this shows how D-503 is beginning to challenge what his government is telling because it becomes harder to make decisions or even what think against the government because he becomes open to being