Song of Solomon

In Song of Solomon (SOS), we get no real sense of passing time, and that is shown even in the way the characters do or don't develop. Milkman especially does not develop as the novel has gone on. His age is mentioned at random times throughout the book, and it is often surprising at how old he has gotten, because his character has not evolved very much. A prime example of this comes in Guitar and Milkman's relationship. Originally, Guitar and Milkman, although separated by a few years, get along fine and have a healthy relationship. However, when Guitar and Milkman get older, like a large part of America, Guitar gets involved in the black civil rights movement. Milkman simply doesn't understand the interest. Even though Milkman is black, he doesn't seem to have much sympathy for the blacks that are the victims of racism. For example, when Guitar angrily tells Milkman about what happened with Emmett Till, Guitar shrugs it off as no big deal.
Milkman's childlike attitude, as well as his ambivalence to the civil rights movement clash when he finds out about Guitar's secret Seven Days group, who kills a white person every time a black person is killed because of racial violence. Guitar tells Milkman he wouldn't understand, and Milkman doesn't understand. He simply does not get why anyone would risk so much for this cause.

Milkman's ignorance to the civil rights cause most likely has to do with his family's affluence. Milkman grew up in a giant house that belonged to his grandfather, a doctor. He doesn't really belong in either "group" of black people in his city. As with Guitar, who hangs out with the lower class black people in the city, does what they do, and joins the Seven Days with them. Milkman doesn't care for the violence that the Seven Days inflict, and doesn't believe enough in the cause. Why doesn't he fit in with the rich black residents? Well, he tries to hang out with Guitar and his friends, so the rich ones shun him.

Milkman's relationship with Guitar is not the only relationship he has that affects him greatly. Milkman has Hagar, his long-term girlfriend who really loves him. However, we see that Milkman isn't aware of the emotional level that his relationship should be at after so many years. Similar to the fact that we don't realize Milkman aging throughout the book, Milkman himself doesn't realize that his relationship has been going on for so long. When he realizes this and realizes the commitment Hagar is expecting, he promptly ends the relationship, putting himself in danger.

What conclusion about Milkman can we form from these relationships he has as well as his social standing in his town and how he feels about the violent civil rights movement?
We can see that Milkman never really does grow up. Like a little child, he is always caught up in too many things, wanting to be part of everything. He has no social identity, especially after ending his relationship with Hagar. With his only identity coming from his unpopular parents, he cannot go anywhere in the world. He doesn't seem to believe in anything and with no beliefs and no identity, he has nowhere to go with nobody. 

Words Describing Antoinette

In both Jane Eyre and after she goes crazy in Wide Sargasso Sea, Antoinette is described in a very dark light. However, in Jane Eyre, she is depicted as almost non-human. In Wide Sargasso Sea, she seems more pitiful and out of it.
Words used to describe her in Jane Eyre:

• mysterious
• lunatic
• mad
• maniac
• idiot
• drunkard
• embruted
• beast grovelled
• strange wild animal
• hyena
• cunning
• demon
• insane
• monster

Lots of these words describe non-human creatures, as if she is so crazy, we can't even categorize her as being a person anymore. In Wide Sargasso Sea, the words used to describe her are:

• not myself
• ghost
• dying
• cold
• fool
• stranger
• intemperate
• unchaste
• long
• sad
• dark
• alien
• disconcerting
• thirsty
• magic
• beautiful
• lonely
• sad
• mad
• bewitched
• crazy
• dead
• blank
• hate

Although some of these words seem dehumanizing, most of them just seem like Antoinette extremely out of it, and sad to the core, contrary to how she is depicted in Jane Eyre, with a sort of non-human evilness. 
We can use these words to see the change that goes through Antoinette through the end of Wide Sargasso Sea to Jane Eyre.  When Antoinette is trapped in the attic in Wide Sargasso Sea, she seems sad, yearning, and lonely. However, in Jane Eyre, she seems to have lost all hope and has become inherently evil.

Meursault's Motivation

The question is simple, why did Meursault kill the Arab? The answer is complex. There were many triggers that could've possibly motivated him, as well as possibly a deeper answer hiding beneath all of them.

If we are 100% trusting to Meursault, then the reason he kills the Arab is simply that he has a gun, his enemy is in front of him, but not threatening him. The sun and hot weather is disorienting him, and when the Arab's blade is reflecting bright light from the sun directly into his eyes, it is too much. He shoots the Arab once, then four more times. Maybe this disorienting setting, as well as the fact he had a gun in his hands with someone to shoot, was the last straw. Something might've been building up in him ever since the book started, since we never see any brash behavior on his part whatsoever.

However, if we look closer, by looking at the bigger picture the answer is much more complex. The reason Meursault even has the gun is because he took it from his acquaintance, Raymond, so he wouldn't do something rash. As we obviously know, Meursault is the one who does something rash in the end. Could Meursault have been protecting his friend Raymond? Although Meursault never mentioned that they were very close, as they had just been acquainted earlier in the story because Raymond wanted help to threaten his mistress who had cheated on him, the two may have shared some kind of bond. By killing the Arab, Meursault effectively put an end to Raymond's troubles, saving Raymond from possibly killing the Arab himself, something he obviously wanted to do.

Another good question, why did Meursault shoot four more times? Just for fun? Initially, we might think that it was just to finish the job, to make sure the Arab really was dead. However, Meursault seems to put this reason to rest when he mentions that he has entered the door of unhappiness after shooting the Arab. He knows that his life will be turned upside-down because of this incident. It could've been this unhappiness that made him mad, mad enough to shoot the Arab four more times.

In Meursault's trial, the four extra shots are deeply looked at. In the end, they may have led to his execution. It is funny to think that one moment, Meursault is perhaps the most rational person I've ever met, observing and content. The next, he has killed a man for a reason that isn't clear.

The Man Who Wasn't There

When watching The Man Who Wasn't There, I saw instant similarities to The Stranger. The most obvious charactorial similarity is in Ed Crane/Mersault. Both the movie and the book are narrated in first person by the main character, who ironically, has few words to say in their story. At the beginning of the stories, both characters usually just sit back and observe what is going on, likely with a cigarette hanging from their lip. Eventually, both characters have a violent outbreak that kills someone and both, as far as we know, die as a consequence of their actions.

There are, however, some differences in Ed and Meursault's actions and the reason for them. Ed Crane's motivation for killing who he does seems much more justified than Meursault's. Crane's wife is cheating on him with his wife's boss. Crane blackmails his wife's boss into giving him $10,000 and gets a late night call and is told to come visit the boss's office. The boss ensues to choke Crane almost to death before Crane stabs and kills the boss out of desperation.
However, from a rational point of view, Meursault doesn't seem very threatened or in imminent danger when he kills the Arab. Meursault is complaining about the hot weather, as well as the glint that the Arab's knife blade makes in his eyes, but doesn't seem to be in any danger of death.

Furthermore, there are some comparisons in plot that make the movie a bit different than the book. The movie has many extra side plots that create a more complicated plot, but the side plots all tie back to the main idea of both the book and the movie. First, there is the business venture involving Crane and Tolliver, in which Tolliver asks Crane for money to start a dry cleaning business. There is also the side plot of Crane's initial infatuation with Birdy, his friends teenage daughter. Crane greatly enjoys her piano playing, as it seems to relieve some of the stress in his life, especially when his wife is in jail and after she dies. Finally, there is the whole deal with Crane's wife getting convicted instead of him, and how Crane sort of tries to admit to the crime but nobody takes him seriously. These all tie together and complete the plot however. Birdy tries to get frisky with Crane while he's driving, he crashes, he wakes up in the hospital and is arrested for the killing of Tolliver, a crime that he didn't commit, and in the end, Crane is put in the electric chair for this crime.

Finally, there are some differences in the general nature of the two main characters, Crane and Meursault. At first, before the pivotal murder, Meursault seems generally content with life, observing, relaxing. Crane, however, seems always tense and mad at life. He always just seems mad at everything and that he doesn't really care. The other major difference is after both characters have murdered people. Meursault struggles to find his happiness, but eventually does, and it seems that Meursault find himself content and more sane after his conviction. Crane, on the other hand, just gets weird. Although there isn't much time between when he is convicted and when he is executed, the only two major details we get is his extremely bizarre dream about walking out of jail, seeing a UFO, and nonchalantly going back into the jail. He also tells us about his magazine article telling his story. Here, Crane also seems relatively content with himself. I just wonder what he would've felt if he was never convicted for the killing of Tolliver, and he had to live with himself knowing he was ultimately the cause of his wife's suicide.

Gregor

As I read The Metamorphosis, I often find myself wondering why Gregor has the mindset that he does when he wakes up as a "monsterous vermon". There must be some sort of backstory to the fact that the thing he worries about most is not that of turning himself back into a human, but the fact that he is late to work. Also the fact that his parents are extremely concerned when he won't get up and his sister is whispering to him trying to help him. His thoughts should probably be thinking about how he's a giant bug and that he's a giant bug! He doesn't even freak out very much. He just goes back to sleep. When he wakes up and is still a bug, he doesn't freak out and faint or anything (much like his mother when she sees him), but instead tries to find the best way to get out of bed and over to the door. What are the reasons for this abnormally normal behavior? His mother and father and boss seem extremely alarmed when they see him, and his boss mentioned that he hasn't been absent to work in years, so this is most definitely not a common occurrence.

Knowing that this hasn't ever happened to Gregor before, why would he react so rationally to his transformation? One of the reasons I can think of is that he is so pressured to be on time at work and that the consequences of being late are so huge that he must focus on getting to work on time. We know that his parents owe his employer lots of money, so maybe he's on a short leash at work. He may lose his job if he's even a little late. Wait. Wouldn't he lose his job if he shows up to work as a giant bug? In Gregor's present state, he can't be expected to do much of anything, as he has trouble getting out of bed, much less arriving at work and doing his job (which requires human interaction) effectively.

The way Gregor acts could be in part to the relationship he has with his parents. As stated before, his parents owe a giant debt to Gregor's employer, and Gregor is seemingly working happily to pay it off. Gregor seems to respect his parents a great deal, especially his father.  Gregor mentions that his father takes long breakfasts, often lasting several hours. He says this in such a tone that doesn't at all question his father's habits, but instead takes them as normal. When his father is dealing with Gregor as a giant bug and is trying to get him back into his room, his father gets a cane and stomps his feet to act menacing, but isn't really a menacing figure. He lets Gregor take his time when he's trying to get back into his room and instead of charging just kind of stands there stomping his feet. Gregor's father is a wannabee authoritative figure.

Gregor's sister, Greta, on the other hand, helps him a great deal at the beginning when his transformation is new.  She initially whispers to him from another room when his parents are freaking out, asking soothingly if he's alright. Later, she not only brings him food, but lays out different kinds of food to see what he likes. However, she handles things he's touched very carefully and with a rag, and as time goes on, helps him out less.

We can tell from these few instances that Gregor's family is a bit off. His father wants to be the stereotypical authoritative father, yet he really isn't that menacing. His sister means well, but she contradicts her good deeds with little unsettling ones that make us question her opinion on her brother. Using the fact that nothing is quite right in his family, I think the reason Gregor thinks so much about getting to work on time and not so much about the fact that he's a bug is because he himself is also a bit off.

Jake's masculinity

Jake Barnes was injured during WWI, and his injury is not a broken bone or amputation, it's one that not only hurts him physically but mentally. Jake's manlihood was injured during the war, and he can no longer use sex to assert his masculinity. He turns to other methods such as alcohol, financial stability, travel, and even violence and bashing of other characters to show how much of a man he is.

Jake has a lot of money. Despite his serving in the war, he is still very well off and is able to live a first class lifestyle. The fact that he is wealthy doesn't really help him be more masculine, but what he does with his money does. 

Jake uses drinking throughout the novel to assert his manliness. Because of his castrating war wound, Jake must make up for his loss by proving himself in different ways. In Pamplona, Jake is taught to drink from the goatskin bags. He drinks excessively from these bags in front of the locals, showing that he is worthy and socially acceptable. A more general use of drinking, which is used heavily in The Sun Also Rises, is the use of alcohol in order to assert friendships. Jake sometimes buys everyone he's with drinks in order to take care of both of these, he asserts that these people are his friends, and also shows that he has enough money to buy drinks for everyone, which is masculine.

Another way Jake uses his money to assert his masculinity is to travel to many different places with and without friends. He travels with Bill to Pamplona and to the fiesta with Bill, Mike, Cohn, and Brett. He also travels within Paris a lot. When he travels, Jake is seemingly carefree with his money. Take, for example, the fiesta and bullfighting. Jake and Bill get seats really close to the action, which must've cost more than the balcony seats. Jake doesn't even mention this in the book which shows he must have more than enough money to afford them and seats like these are commonplace for him. 

Some prominent examples of Jake asserting his manliness come at the very beginning of the book, when he talks about Cohn. Jake mentions that Cohn has one a boxing title, but says that it is good for Cohn, and talks about his boxing as if its sort of a cute little hobby for him. However, this cute little hobby of Cohn's ends up getting back at Jake at the fiesta.

At the fiesta, Jake (try's) using violence for the first time in the novel to show himself and Cohn that he has masculinity. Jake attempts to punch Cohn, but Cohn replies with a vicious attack that leaves Jake bloodied and embarrassed.

Jake is especially concerned about his masculinity in this book because of the constant pressure to please Brett. If he doesn't, he knows Brett will leave him. Over the course of the novel, we are introduced to two others who have feelings for Brett (Cohn and fiance Mike), as well as her soon-to-be ex-husband, Sir Ashley. Added to the pressure from these men is the fact that he is at an obvious disadvantage because of his injury. At the end of the novel Jake realizes he and Brett won't end up together, which is sad but may lift some of the weight on Jake's shoulders, because he won't have to try as hard to prove himself.

Virginia Woolf in The Hours

The Hours is a movie that follows the plot of Mrs. Dalloway, but also gives us a look into the life of this books author, Virginia Woolf. The Hours also has three different plots, one, the life of Virginia Woolf during the time period that she is writing Mrs. Dalloway. The second plot is about a 50's housewife, Laura, who on the outside fits the "50's housewife" stereotype, but has many mental issues. Finally, the third plot is about Clarissa, a woman who is together with a girl named Sally and who has a complicated relationship with a man named Richard, who is Laura's son from the second plot. To top it all off, Clarissa is planning to host a party in honor of Richard's work in poetry.

At the very beginning of the movie, Woolf is seen writing a letter to her husband, Leonard, then walking peacefully toward a river, filling her pockets with heavy rocks, and drowning herself. Leonard is then shown coming home and reading the letter. After this, we are immediately introduced into the other plots. Eventually, the movie goes back to before Virginia's suicide, when she is writing Mrs. Dalloway, around 1924. Even at this point, some 17 years before she dies, Woolf seems mentally unstable, much like Laura in the movie's second plot. Reading about Virginia Woolf's life, we can see that she had a history of mental illness, which eventually led to her committing suicide, but when we watch her in the movie, you really get to understand the instability and tension in her life. Virginia is always dead serious and her facial expressions could kill. She often looks as if she might explode at any second. One of the worst scenes is after she kisses her sister, she starts crying and shaking. It intensifies the way one looks at Woolf's life.

After experiencing via The Hours the way Woolf may have acted and lived during the time when she was writing Mrs. Dalloway, we can understand some of her characters in this book better. When Woolf commits suicide, she looks very calm and almost at peace, especially after hearing the content of her letter to Leonard right before she dies. She does not want to die and wants Leonard to know how happy they were together. This relates to Septimus's suicide. He doesn't want to die but knows he must. In context to Woolf, Septimus is a very fragile character.

The other character that we can most relate to Woolf is her main character, Clarissa Dalloway. After watching the movie, we see Virginia have many breakdowns, like when she goes to the train station. These are similar to Clarissa's breakdowns. Both Clarissa and Virginia were upper class women who were supposed to act a certain way. Neither of them are supposed to have fits of mental instability. However, these breakdowns could be in part to the preset way that this class of women is supposed to behave. Finally, the eeriest example of correlation between Clarissa and Woolf is that Woolf was originally going to have Clarissa kill herself, which is what, 17 years later, Woolf did herself. Why did Woolf have Clarissa live in the end though? Could it have been because Woolf had hope for herself that she would eventually get passed her mental illness?

Richard Dalloway and his marriage with Clarissa

In Mrs. Dalloway, the title character has a very odd relationship with her husband, Richard. This is most obviously shown in the scene in which Richard and Hugh are having lunch at Lady Bruton's house and what happens afterwards. Richard decided he must go home and and buy flowers for his wife and tell her how much he loves her "in so many words". He buys her red and white roses, comes into her room, and is about to tell her how much he loves her, but he just can't bring himself to do so. It's not because he doesn't love her, because her certainly does, and it seems like more of a shyness that is keeping him from showing his affection than anything else. Clarissa completely understands and takes him by the hand before he leaves for a meeting and putting Clarissa down for a nap. This understanding mentality that Clarissa uses when interacting with Richard suggests that this has happened before. Richards actions suggest that he and Clarissa don't have a very strong connection, and were never really close, as Richard was probably preoccupied with his occupation for a majority of his marriage. Although his actions seem quite wimpy, his demeanor is quite cute. From the time he decides to go tell Clarissa he loves her to when he can't bring himself to do it, he acts like a giddy, lovesick teenaged girl. He really, really wants to tell her he loves her, but he just doesn't feel comfortable enough around her to do so. This shouldn't be the case in marriage. This makes me think that Clarissa and Richard have mutual love and respect, yet are very distant from each other on an emotional level. This could affect Clarissa's thoughts on life and how her life turned out. Would she have had a better, more conventional married life had she married the equally dorky Peter?

Comparisons Between Mrs. Dalloway and its Author

Virginia Woolf may well have thought of herself when she described different aspects of Mrs. Dalloway. Clarissa, although well put together and a seemingly good model for a first class 1920s woman, has many contemplative and deep thoughts that we get insight to in the novel. Woolf was a first-class woman, but was very mentally unstable, was an active feminist, and nonreligious. Similarities to these aspects of her life are prominently displayed in Mrs. Dalloway. We get an initial sense of mental illness with the character of Septimus, whom is first introduced in the novel as a bystander to the motorcade. Septimus is a WWI veteran and has an extreme case of PTSD. Throughout the novel, we find out that multiple doctors are trying to help Septimus, one of whom is one of the most famous in the area. However, at the end of the book, we find out that none of the treatment suggested will ever help because Septimus commits suicide. Similarly, Virginia Woolf had a history of mental illness, having frequent panic attacks and eventually, when she was only 59, drowning herself. The second aspect of Mrs. Dalloway that relates to Woolf's life was the sheltered, fairly "housewife" like life of Clarissa, and how she doesn't think like a housewife traditionally is supposed to think. In Mrs. Dalloway, this is exemplified especially when, at the end of the book, during her party, Clarissa goes into a back room to contemplate death. Virginia Woolf was also a first-class citizen, but also acted in erratic ways, much like how Clarissa thinks. Woolf was an avid feminist, as well as being nonreligious. Although the correlations between Mrs. Dalloway and Virginia Woolf's life aren't extremely evident, I don't think that they are coincidental and this book may in fact be a look into the thoughts and life of Woolf herself.

Howie and why he has such a boring occupation

In The Mezzanine, we are fed, in detail, Howie's thoughts on everything. It turns out, Howie is a very very interesting man who has many thoughts that he tells us that evoke craziness and give us a glimpse some of his personal life. What I'm wondering is why a man this interesting, ends up with a drab, boring job at some firm in the city. Why isn't Howie a stand-up comedian or a street performer? I think Baker initially gave him this job in order to make a few points. The fact that Howie has such a boring job gives us the opportunity to not think about it as much and be able to focus more on what's inside Howie's brain and what thoughts are going through his head. Another reason Baker gave Howie a drab job was to show that just because someone has a job that isn't the most interesting, it doesn't mean that they are a boring person. We must get to analyze someone deeply and get to know them and their thoughts before judging them.