A Farewell To Arms Impressions and Ideas for Essay

Immediately, some links can be drawn between what occurs in Hemingway's work in A Farewell To Arms and his real life experiences around the time of World War I. Even his relationship with Red Cross nurse Agnes von Kurowsky is portrayed in this novel through the characters of Lieutenant Henry and Catherine Barkley. Even the way they met and their jobs were similar to how Hemingway fell in love with Agnes. Also, just like most of his novels during his prime of writing, A Farewell To Arms does seem to promote Hemingway as a master of all trades, especially being a soldier and even somewhat of a ladie's man.
Hemingway also is able to show how soldiers did appear to be detached from society at the time, through his main character of Frederic Henry. Henry has to go through a lot to maintain his love for Catherine. He had to survive a war, even after his leave of absence was ruled over because it was believed he had received jaundice from drinking too much. Henry escapes from the war, and although he feels guilty for abandoning his effort, he is incredibly happy to be living with Catherine. In a sad ending to the novel, she dies after giving birth, but Henry will be able to remember her through the baby she left behind. I believe that this novel was a way to remember Agnes. His relationship with her maybe did not blossom as much as he wanted it to, but he would always remember her. He wrote this novel with her clearly in mind, but through Catherine's death he showed that he would never be able to have Agnes.

Oedipus the King Blog

In Oedipus the King, Sophocles tries to make a point of the lack of actual human free will due to the power of the Gods and the prophets. In general, Sophocles shows prophecies as turning out true due to there being a large amount of debate over the truthfullness of prohpets back in his time. Sophocles clearly believed in prophecies and "blinds" Oedipus by the end of this act of the play to prove that anybody who does not believe in prophecies is foolish. At one point in this act, Oedipus and Jocasta even have a debate about how true prophecies really are. They come to a conclusion that most prophecies are not true, and that Oedipus's supposed prophecy would not become true. They believed in chance over fate, which was the opposite of Sophocles's beliefs. Throughout the act, Sophocles leads Oedipus with clues that his fate was already pre-decided and would occur as planned. Oedipus refuses to take these clues in order to go againts the beliefs of Sophocles, and to be eventually blinded. Even Jocasta tries to avoid her own fate by getting rid of baby Oedipus. This does not work, as Oedipus goes on to kill his father Laius. He also marries his mother Jocasta, totally completing the prophecy.

Proudest Moment

It had to be the proudest moment of your career. Being carried high on the shoulders of your fellow townsmen. The race was won. People were cheering your name. You were on top of the world, nothing else could be better. If you were to die that day, you would have been remembered forever. You were at your prime, people would have to remember you.

Who would have thought that soon after this great moment, you would once again be carried shoulder high by your home town? This time, in a casket though. Once again, people were just staring at you in awe while you were still on the top of your game. You were at the high point of your stint, your life. This time, you saw these people carrying you from a different angle. Up in heaven you were, looking down at your name and your life being celebrated, ready to be carried on for years. Unlike most people your glory would not fade, it would be remembered for years. Roses wither quickly, but your reputation lasts longer than the silence of your town’s mourning. You always were a smart man; something about you made a lasting impression on people. This impression is part of the reason you would be remembered for years to come. Most people fade into the past, and may not even be a brief memory. You will always be remembered as one of the best, because you went out as the best.

Once a person enters a coffin, and moves into his next life, he is forgotten in most instances. This coffin is a passageway where people bring everything with them. You left behind your glory, your youth, and many memories for the people of our town. As I visit your grave today, I still see a beautifully well-kept gravesite covered in flowers, love, and memories. When anybody from the town visits you now, this is what they see. Your glory will live on, and you will always be on top of your game in everybody’s memory.

Truly yours,

"Three Ways of Going Wrong": A Connection Between Kurtz and The Magistrate

In Douglas Kerr's article, there is a connection brought up about the growth and changing of the old Magistrate and Kurtz throughout each respective character's novel. This article really helped me see how the characters grew in their novels. Slowly, but surely, Kurtz started to become much more accepting of the Africans and their ways because of how familiar he became with them in Heart of Darkness. The same thing also happened with the old Magistrate because of how much time he spent on the frontier with the barbarians in Waiting for the Barbarians. The fact that he was also involved with a barbarian led to the Magistrate becoming understanding and accepting of these people. This is interesting because a lot of characters in both novels did not view either Africans or barbarians as true human beings. Because of Kurtz's and the Magistrate's differing views, their peers and fellow imperialists or white men lost a lot of respect for them. With respect being loss, things kept getting worse. The Magistrate was treated as if he were a barbarian in Waiting for the Barbarians. There were extensive torture scenes that would be quite scarring for anybody who experienced or witnessed these. As these two characters became closer to the unknown "species" that was feared by everybody else, they both became ostracized from their society, especially the Magistrate. The Magistrate is shunned or ignored by many soldiers and figures of authority, but some women are able to sympathize with him in the novel. The women who sympathize with the Magistrate can be compared to Marlow listening to Kurtz's story in Heart of Darkness. Marlow starts to believe in Kurtz's ideals and really feels the way that Kurtz might have felt at the time while Marlow listens to his story. Before listening to Kurtz, Marlow was not comparable to Colonel Joll in his cruelty towards the barbarians, or in his case Africans, but Marlow was biased and had very little feelings of sympathy for the Africans. After spending time with Kurtz and getting a better understanding for the evils of imperialism and the nature of the Africans, Marlow really changes his view on the way things currently are at the setting of Heart of Darkness. Through Kerr's article, Heart of Darkness, and Waiting for the Barbarians, I have learned that multiple opinons, viewpoints, or stories must be experienced or heard to make judgements on people. Clearly Kurtz and the Magistrate are the two least-biased and most open characters of both novels that we read in the past month.

The Evil Barbarians

Passage from page 120:

"The barbarians come out at night. Before darkness falls the last goat must be brought in, the gates barred, a watch set in every lookout to call the hours. All night it is said, the barbarians prowl about bent on murder and rapine. Children in their dreams see the shutters part and fierce barbarian faces leer through. 'The barbarians are here!' the children scream, and cannot be comforted. Clothing disappears from washing-lines, food from larders, however tightly locked. The barbarians have dug a tunnel under the walls, people say; they come and go as they please, take what they like; no one is safe any longer."

This passage shows how there is a constant fear of the barbarians in the civilization that Waiting For the Barbarians takes place in. This passage goes beyond normal paranoia, as it is mentioned that the barbarians have dug a tunnel under the walls. This is an extremely unrealistic idea, and just serves as a symbol of the people's constant fear of the barbarians. The barbarians are not completely understood by the people in this civilization, and they hear many different stories about what is going on in the war against the barbarians, so a certain amount of fear is understandable. The majority of people in this novel takes its fear of the barbarians too far, and just considers them to be ugly, non-human creatures. The old magistrate seems to understand the barbarians better than every body else does in the civilization (partially because of his involvement with the barbarian girl). At one point in section five, he even makes the soldiers sound barbaric in the way that they steal things from stores, set brush-fires, and enact their violent imperialistic attitude in ways of war. After the magistrate's downfall, he sees more clearly than before that the barbarians are not that bad, and the soldiers are unneccesarily violent.

Would a life changing event need to occur for people in this civilization to change their view of the barbarians?

Initial Impressions of WFTB

At first while reading Waiting For the Barbarians, I noticed that most of the characters have a lack of names. I find this quite interesting, especially since I am so accustomed to recognizing characters by names. With this novel, I must recognize characters by their titles or characteristics. This is a unique way to write a novel, and it forces the reader to be much more absorbed in the way he or she reads.

Another aspect of the novel that stood out to me was the varying views of the barbarians, especially from the old Magistrate. At times the old Magistrate appears to be sympathetic with the barbarians, but at other times he does not show any respect and does not even view the barbarians as human. These differing views show the old Magistrate's uncertainty on his own views and characteristics; therefore, we have an afflicted character.

Reasons to Read "Heart of Darkness"

- A lot of critics believe that this novella is racist and sexist, and this can turn people off from reading Conrad's work

- One way to read this novel is the way that a lot of critics read it. You can read it as something that "might do harm, for example if it is read as straightforwardly endorsing Eurocentric, racist, and sexist ideologies.

- The other way to read this novel is as a "powerful exemplary revelation of the ideology of capitalist imperialism, including its racism and sexism, as that ideology is consonant with a certain definition of literature..."

- People must read this novel and make their own decision on it. It is worth reading so that readers don't just believe the same thing as the critics. Readers can make their own decisions.

- As opposed to a piece of history, this is a literary book. It has two imaginary narrators, irony, common usage of similes, and great personifying language describing what "darkness" really is.

- An example of the irony is Kurtz's pamphlet "The Suppression of Savage Customs" with the phrase at the bottom "Exterminate All the Brutes." This is referring to the Africans.

- Overall, this book is worth reading, if it is read with an open mind that wants to read literature.