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

Dystopian Journal #1

Setting:
The society that D-503 lives in is surrounded by arithmetic and mathematical equations. Each person is not considered a person but rather a cipher. A cipher or other algorithms have to follow certain steps to get the correct answer. By making everyone a cipher it shows that each person follows a set of rules to please the benefactor. Also by making each character it gives them a predetermined persona not allowing them to deviate from their primary purpose. This shows the civilians in the society are constrained to a certain lifestyle which illuminates the lack of freedom in the society. The use of mathematics is looked at as the perfect world because "mathematics and death neither make mistakes" (90). This society is enclosed into an environment where everything is made out of glass, and it is surrounded by a glass wall that keeps the citizens from ever escaping this world. "when we isolated our perfect machined world, by means of the wall, from the irrational, chaotic world of trees, birds, animals..." (83). By creating everything out of glass it gives the people livingvwithin the wall very little privacy while giving the government more control by being abe to see everything being committed by the citizens.

Motifs:
The use of colors are used to represent constraint and freedom within the society. D-503 comnects the color blue to the sky when there are no clouds in the sky because it is unattained by any other clouds. When the sky doesn't have any clouds it's color is controlled by the weather showing its lack in freedom. The main character then associates the color green with confinement. This is proven when describing the wall as green because the wall is what confines the society from the rest of the world. The motifs of lips become very apparent throughout the end of the first third. "His lips: scissors" (65) here D-503 is describing a doctor who he later refers to as just scissors. Through this I feel like the author is trying to say representcharacter'ss personalities or their thoughts through their lips and other facial features. I-330 is a rebel in this society for she poisons herself with tobacco and alcohol which is against the customs of the society. D-503 describes her lips as dripping with blood which I think represents her rebellious and aggressive personality.

Language:
Throughout the first third of the novel, the author uses si Olaf techniques to that of Zora Neale Hurston, lengthy and very descriptive paragraphs of the setting and what his occurring during the passage. "the small bright crystal bell [...] quantities" (31)The author uses this to depict the confidence that D-503 has in his beliefs in the first third. He believed that whatever the the guRdians were doing was right and wasn't questioning many of philosophies that were being forced upon him. He reLly isn't questioning many of the beliefs so he doesn't think about many of his actions.

The Stranger- Journal #5

HALLMARKISM... 


Pay it Forward
Everyone needs to help one another because the person that doesn't help will need help eventually and will have nobody to turn to. This creates nicer people that are always willing to help which will in turn create a better society to live in. With everyone helping one another, stress will be significantly depleted without the feeling of having to do it yourself, tighter bonds will be formed between people, I also think that it will prevent people from being completely selfish.
Respect
If everyone were to give equal respect to all individuals then I feel that there would be less hostility between different ethnicities and religious groups. With equal respect there would be less who people who believe that they are higher than everyone else which I think would create a better society especially when it comes to making important decisions. With everyone at an equal level, each point is more likely to be taken into equal consideration rather than one automatically being better because it came from a person with a higher social status.
Optimism
Nobody likes a "Debby Downer." With everyone having a good attitude towards every situation there are going to be more learning experiences. For example, when not completing a task correctly instead of someone being negative the rest of the day, the person should try and make it a learning experience by thinking "what could I have done differently?" This will create a more well rounded person.
The Only Meaning in Life is the Meaning that We Give it
This means that we as a society need to to control our emotions rather than being over dramatic to every single situation because this will begin to affect our everyday lives. I'm mainly talking about negative emotions. Some of this is unavoidable, like when a loved one dies, but controlling your emotions will make you stronger mentally. This is beneficial when faced with with extremely important decisions because you will be able to think clearly and critically. So by not allowing our emotions to control the way that we think, we become a more intellectual society.
Make Work Fun
Nobody likes having to work, but it doesn't have to be work. Turning a simple assignment into a game or friendly competition with co-workers will make you want to do better increasing your performance. By making it more fun it becomes more enjoyable so you also do better work and want to continue to stay in the position that you are in. By making work fun this creates a happier society by depleting the stress of everyday life.
Don't Back Down to Accolades
Not one person should see someone's accolades during competition or in general and decide not to compete or deem that person to be of a higher social status. Show respect for their achievements but DO NOT deem that person to better than you so you automatically back down. Challenge that person, ask questions to make yourself better! This will make any one person tougher mentally and physically depending on the competition. This will also create the mindset of "I can do anything."
You Define Who You Are
Don't let anyone person decide who you are. You define your personality through your actions. No matter what anyone says or does to make you think otherwise you can be whoever you want to be. This will create a more confident person which will make them better at anything that they do in life. This can help a society significantly in getting whatever needs to be done in an efficient manner.

I chose all of these principles based on what I think are the ideal principles for a happy life. My dad taught me recently what Pay it forward means to him and how he implements it into his life and I thought that everyone can benefit from this. Respect is a huge part of my family. Everyone has equal respect and you don't disrespect anyone especially your elders because they have given you everything that you have. I took POA last year and I felt that optimism is a bit of a stretch but if everyone tries to be more optimistic that in itself will create a happier society. I am currently learning that I need to control my emotions and I have seen nothing but positive effects from it by benefiting everyone's attitudes around me. Making work fun stemmed from how I do my homework. I listen to music to make it more enjoyable which allows me to do better work because I stay focused. Don't back down to accolades is something that my family has taught me and it bugs me when somebody will automatically deem someone a higher status. I consider it giving up before trying and that in my mind should not be accepted. Defining who you are came from my dad's philosophy which stemmed into my own because I think that you should shoot for the stars and if you miss you'll hit the moon.

The Stranger- Journal #4

At the end of the novel, Meursault begins to understand what the point of living is. He comes to the conclusion that the point of living is just to live life. He sees that the point of life is just to live as long as your happy. He states that, "Even there, [...] I felt ready to live it all again too" (122). Meursault finds out that before Maman died she got a fiance not because she had to but because it made her happy, which is why nobody had the right to cry over her. This helps instigate Meursault's epiphany that living and being happy in life is the point of living. I think that Camus wants his readers from the 1940's to take in this idea because during the stressful time period of WWII nobody is focusing on living just to live but only trying to survive which is causing a massive state of unhappiness throughout the world, at that time. For the future generations I think that Camus wanted them to also take in this idea to create a happier generation.