Aloha,
My family and I are on the lovely island of Maui this winter break and the experience is too great to not share it with someone. Here are some pictures and videos:
our hotel-
my sister and I-
hotel pool-
View of the pool and the beach-
I tried to get a selfie with a fish...didn't quite work
Cool fish-
Here's a video of me blowing O's (I recommend highest quality)
All photos and videos were taken with my sister's GoPro
Mahalo :)
I'm going to try to pave a new path for a style of literary analysis so we'll so how well it goes.
"Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller
The play opens with Willy coming home from a hard day of work and talking to his wife about his work and problems around the office
Willy's biggest concern is providing for his family.
Willy's wife is very caring and supportive of him and their two sons who are eager to make it big in business although one is disillusioned and the other is irresponsible.
Willy must commute to Chicago everyday which is tiring for him especially in his old age,
Since the story takes place in the 1940s, the American Dream is thriving and Chicago and New York is the epicenter of big business.
Willy talks to himself a lot and suicidal because of how sad he is that he is not as good of a salesman as he used to be. He also changes mood rapidly and lashes out on his family.
He wants the best for his family but he is frustrated because his job doesn't get him much pay. Willy likes to reminisce about his brother Ben who died some years ago. He hallucinates about Ben and has conversations with him. Willy can be heard by his family who develop a deep concern with him.
In the end, Willy decides to take his own life and crash in his car.
Death of a Salesman is about family and traditional values like the American Dream.
Although Willy may not be an emotionally stable person, I would call him a static character for the way he is constantly changing attitude.
"WILLY (corning out of The Woman’s dimming area and going
over to Linda): I’ll make it all up to you, Linda, I’ll...
LINDA: There’s nothing to make up, dear. You’re doing fine, better
than...
WILLY (noticing her mending): What’s that?
LINDA: Just mending my stockings. They’re so expensive...
WILLY (angrily, taking them from her): I won’t have you mending
stockings in this house! Now throw them out!"
Biff and Happy are under a lot of pressure to become great businessmen like how their father was. There is an awkward situation between Willy and his sons because they want to be the great businessman he was but Willy is doing poorly in the business world now. He gets fired near the end of the story which makes it difficult for him to be a role model for his sons. Willy wants what's best for his sons and gives them all of his knowledge of business and pushes them to achieve greatness in the business world.
All poems are not created equal. Poetry has the ability to morph into any type of subject based on the poet's style of writing. That being said, there can also be parallels drawn between just about every poem ever written. Summons by Robert Francis and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot have many similarities in their literary elements as well as differences.
T.S. Eliot is known for his rich literary works and provocative writing. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot can make the reader think beyond the words written on the paper and beyond the context it is written in. The same goes for Francis' Summons. In Francis' poem, their is a tone of desire for companionship and love. The tone is very hopeful and optimistic in its diction:"...And let you in and light a light..." and "...Come wake me up. Come any hour of night..." The narrator longs for a companion in which to explore the world with, to conquer fears with, and to be exposed to new cultures with. Much of the same thing could be said about Eliot's work. In Eliot's poem however, there is a much darker and disconsolate tone. Eliot's diction casts a dark atmosphere on the topic of the poem by using phrases like, "...I know the voices dying with a dying fall..." and, "...I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker..." (The "eternal Footman being death.) So both poems basically talk of similar topics, but what sets them apart is their underlying tone. Another way Eliot and Francis are both similar and different is in their perspective about the subject. Both poets had the character's outlook towards the topic made a certain way to force the audience make inferences about them. For example, when Eliot writes "...And time yet for a hundred indecisions, /And for a hundred visions and revisions, /Before the taking of a toast and tea..." he has the audience make the inference that the narrator is an incredibly uncertain person. To be that cautious and calculated for eating toast and tea would lead the reader to believe that the narrator is near the point of having mental issues. When Francis writes, he has his character much more optimistic and definite. With writing like, "...Make me get out of bed..." and, "You know I'm not too hard persuaded." gives the reader assurance that the narrator would definitely go out and do all these things when the opportunity presented itself. Just by changing the perspective of the character, both poets are able to get inside the reader's head to make them characterize the narrators. Another interesting element to the poem are how both poets insert minute details that would probably go by undetected until further analyzed. For example, the fact that Eliot has the narrator named J. Alfred Prufrock is something special. Usually big names with lengthy titles are seen in celebrities or successful big business owners. A name like J. Alfred Prufrock sounds like the lead singer of a band or a famous author. However, J. Alfred Prufrock has amounted to nothing (according to J. Alfred Prufrock.) There is irony just in the title of the narrator. That's the kind of provocative writing Eliot injects into his work to get the reader to analyze deeper. Francis does similar actions how he titles the poem "Summons." The word "summon" literally means to draw someone forth with authority leading to the idea that the narrator isn't asking for a comrade but rather demanding one. All while maintaining a very congenial and kind tone. Irony strikes again. Minuscule details in a poem are sometimes the most important in an analysis and all poems have them if you dig around deep enough.
"Or if I go to sleep too soon Come wake me up. Come any hour Of night." Sounds like he wants this:
"Come whistling up the road. Stomp on the porch. Bang on the door." wikiHow: How to Kick Down a Door "Make me get out of bed and come And let you in and light a light.
Tell me the northern lights are on And make me look. Or tell me clouds Are doing something to the moon They never did before, and show me. See that I see. Talk to me till I'm half as wide awake as you And start to dress wondering why I ever went to bed at all." Why Do We Need Sleep? "Tell me the walking is superb. Quotes about walking: “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols, Or, How to Philosophize With the Hammer “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” ― John Muir, John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir "My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the heck she is." ― Ellen DeGeneres "Not only tell me but persuade me. You know I'm not too hard persuaded."
The title is appropriate because of the fact that he is asking someone else summon him from his room. In a way he is summoning someone to summon him. Yeah
The tone of the poem actually seems pretty cheerful and optimistic
My mood when i read it was hopeful and curious because i thought that this guy has the desire to be exposed to beautiful things and he just needs a mysterious hand to come and open the door for him.
The shift would probably be at the end where he says, "You know I'm not too hard persuaded." This was a shift because the poem shifted to a more personal side where the narrator reveals something about himself that could have more meaning when looking back upon the things he said earlier.
The theme of the poem seems to be adventure and not fearing the unknown, but being optimistic about it. It could also be friendship and the value of having a companion.
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