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“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson Analysis: A Normalcy of Violence

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Subtle contrast or irony in fiction is creative writing at its peak. For example, the values of the grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find” or the wallpaper in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper.” Often, these ironic contrasts cause the reader to reflect on the wider world around them. These are the things that make horror in literature palpable. Accordingly, I thought it appropriate to provide an analysis of “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. It is a uniquely horrific tale by the author of The Haunting of Hill House.

Overview

Jackson’s “The Lottery” tells the tale of a village that is preparing for its annual lottery. Readers get a close view of the town’s inhabitants, and their rituals. It is a close inspection as they prepare for the important day of selection. A day, remarkably, that seems to be like any other.

“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green,” Jackson writes.

The author describes the happenings of the town and the routine activities that are taking place. The townsfolk have gathered together in the square. And, at one point there s a kerfuffle over losing the black lockbox that is pivotal to the occasion. The men of the village gather and discuss the weather and the crops. Meanwhile, the women join them, and all of them wait for the event to begin.

Here, we learn more about the Lottery and the individual who manages it:

“The lottery was conducted–as were the square dances, the teen club, the Halloween program–by Mr. Summers. who had time and energy to devote to civic activities. He was a round-faced, jovial man and he ran the coal business, and people were sorry for him. because he had no children and his wife was a scold.”

Soon enough, the prolonged wait is over for the village (the families want to get home before the noon dinner, of course) and the lists for the lottery are drawn. Of course, this was not unusual for those in attendance as the “people had done it so many times that they only half-listened to the directions…”

We soon find out that the unlucky winner is Tessie Hutchinson, after she arrives late to the party, who is married to the (unsavory?) Bill Hutchninson. After calling out the lottery as “unfair,” she is told the arbitrary rules a few more times before the first stones begin to fly—one striking her directly in the head.

“It isn’t fair, it isn’t right,’ Mrs. Hutchinson screamed, and then they (the villagers) were upon her.”

An Analysis of “They Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

Often referred to as a shocking story (which it probably was in 1948), “The Lottery” now stands as a totem to the normalcy of violence in communities. Consider the opening line: “The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny.” It is an important and tactful intro to a story that reveals hard truths about human nature through its exploration of sober malice. For example, the men gather and talk about “planting and rain, tractors and taxes,” and the women “greeted one another and exchanged bits of gossip as they went to join their husbands” (Jackson). It is all too normal, and I think that is exactly the point.

For me, Shirley Jackson is remarking on the commonality of brutal, barbaric violence that had found its way into America in 1948. Although, that violence certainly stretches to our time as well. The seemingly random accusations of communism and community ostracism that plagued America arrived shortly in the 50s. With it came the violence of oppression from a random lottery of ignorance and hate.

As Jackson stated in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1948:

“Explaining just what I had hoped the story to say is very difficult. I suppose, I hoped, by setting a particularly brutal ancient rite in the present and in my own village to shock the story’s readers with a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives” (Haven).

Jackson took that pervasive violence and made it tangible for the reader. It is alarming because we sometimes forget that crowds of people throw stones literally and metaphorically. As such, community has the power to come together, and it has the power to kill.

What do you think of this popular short horror story? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!



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Stephen King’s The Long Walk: A Harrowing Journey of Sacrifice

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The thought of walking a 5k is miserable to some people, but walking endlessly until only one of you remain? Well, that would be a nightmare. However, what if your prize is anything that you choose? Money? Love? Richard Bachman (author Stephen King‘s famous alter-ego who died due to cancer of the pseudonym) executed this idea during his freshman year at the University of Maine in 1967. That story came out as Stephen King’s “The Long Walk.” It is also a story straight from King’s distinct Bachman-voice. These stories are a bit more violent, and a bit more pointed. Currently, the production company Lionsgate is producing a film directed by Francis Lawrence, which is due out Sept. 12, 2025. But what is this story about, and what does it say about who we are as a society?

Summary of Stephen King’s The Long Walk

The setting of the story is the United States under a totalitarian regime. The regime televises the titular “Long Walk.” It is a filmed contest in which 100 men walk along US Route 1 until only one remains. The rules for the game are as follows: contestants must walk at least 4 miles per hour; the escort soldier give three warnings if they drop below that speed for 30 seconds. The soldiers shoot and kill the contestant on the fourth.

Stephen King’s “The Long Walk” centers around Ray Garraty from Androscoggin County, Maine. He enters the walk and begins to get to know the people around him. Slowly, we learn more about the desperation of each contestant. We also learn why they have come to be in the “Long Walk” themselves. Nevertheless, the soldiers kill the contestants ruthlessly as the walk continues. Much infighting occurs throughout the day and night. Garraty befriends a number of walkers. The walk only fuels some of the others. The winner, as it stands, receives the prize of his choosing. This grand, open-ending prize pushes the contestants into the literal long walk. Throughout the story, alliances are made and broken, and friends sacrifice themselves to save each other.

Conclusion

Bachman and Roadwork

I initially read Bachman when I read a novella called “Roadwork.” It had all the markings of a good King story. It featured well-drawn characters, including the protagonist Barton Dawes. As well, the story is a compelling narrative in which municipality and highway construction imposes its imminent domain on the hero’s home. The events in the novel result in a final standoff between the protagonist and police. It posits the question as to whether villains are made or created.

The other element that Roadwork has is a certain amount of raw grittiness that other King stories simply don’t have. As it were, Roadwork is a political story about government overreach and the place of citizens in the US. While King has mentioned that he wrote the story about his mother’s death, one can only assume King’s political activism (and late night with road cones) played into the perspective of this novel. Therefore, we can see Bachman as a sort of soapbox for King to speak about issues in which he believes. In this way, he can remark about controversial issues and write about taboo subject matter (school shootings and the like).

The Long Walk Themes

In a similar vein, Stephen King’s The Long Walk has an air of violence and punchy discourse that cuts the reader to the bone. As it relates to this style of storytelling, the overused expression “unflinching” is fitting. Some critics–and the author himself–have pointed out that the book seems to mirror the Vietnam War. Think about the death marches and senseless sacrifice through violence.

Meanwhile, the book itself is a critique of sensationalism and viewership in the age of entertainment and TV. The reader can imagine the enthralled audience at home throwing their hands up and celebrating as each contestant falls to the ground and is shot (circa Bachman’s other novel The Running Man). After all, the television during the late 1960s (and modern media) were evolving in ways moral sensors felt unbecoming. As I get older (and more prudish), I see some of these arguments in a new light. If copulation and physical aggression are already on the platter, how far do we really have to go to show violence, bloodshed, and death?

Outside of the moralizing, it’s a great story worth reading from the king of horror.

Blog, Folklore

Strange Tales of Mystery and Imagination, A Formative Read

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I have a lot of books that played a role in my literacy voyage. These include Roald Dahl’s Young Adult/Adult novels to R.L. Stine’s Goosebump series and others. But there are a few that really got me rolling on loving horror and the occult. One of which was Strange Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Alex Hamer.

This was a book that I read many, many times. I can remember reading this book as a kid at my parents’ house. In fact, one of my middle school teachers let me read a few chapters from this book to the class one afternoon. What a memory!

We are going to talk about this book today because it is an excellent collection of folklore and mythology. It also spans the gamut of gruesome to horrific. Hopefully this inspires you to pick up a copy wherever you can find one. While formative for me, it can be inspiring for you!

Synopsis of Strange Tales of Mystery and Imagination

Ghosts and Madness

Strange Tales of Mystery and Imagination is a clever book. It comes from the author’s ability to play with myth and folklore. There are truly horrific tales that come from the annals of world history. Yet, it is clever in construction. Each chapter begins with a short history lesson or synopsis that pulls the reader into the story. It’s also clever in scope, spanning the world through stories most of us have heard and new ones that we won’t soon forget.

To get a good example of how this book operates, we need to look no further than the first chapter, which is titled “The Bleeding House Mystery.”

It begins:

“The strange disappearance of Buford and Ellen Penrose was a haunting, unsolved mystery for eight years…until the awful night when blood began dripping from the ceiling of their home, sending the gathering of fashionable dinner guests fleeing in horror.”

Now, if that doesn’t intrigue you in the least then I am not sure how else to pique your interest. The author packed this book with memorable haunts. And they page after page is laden with exciting narratives.

Buried Alive

The stories in Strange Tales of Mystery and Imagination continue in grisly entertainment in the proceeding chapters. “Ghostly Escorts” tells the tale of lost ships at sea. Ships that are filled with phantoms. Meanwhile, “The Pleading Ghost” presents perhaps the scariest way to expire—premature burial. It spares nothing in its revelation of a poor young woman suffering her last moments on Earth. She is confined in a coffin six-feet under. Though her struggle is never revealed–she fought until her last breath.

It reads:

“The hair that remained on the skull was disheveled and the knees were bent as if in an effort to force open the coffin lid. Worse, much worse, there were bloody, parallel scratches on the wood of the inside coffin lid, and a single fingernail was still imbedded in the soft pine.”

Additionally, there are stories of the occult in Egypt and psychics predicting their own deaths. There is also one of my favorites: the story of the bloodthirsty Sawney Beane family. They were a family so grim that they terrorized and cannibalized the Irish hills of Galloway for years. Eventually, King James’ army came to the hills and arrested the family.

Final Thoughts on These Strange Tales

I love hearing stories about ghosts and monsters because there is a rawness and realness to what humans believe they have experienced. Oral storytelling is excellent as well. That realness extends itself to Strange Tales of Mystery and Imagination, because there is something conversational that likens each story to homespun horror, as if the author is in the same room next to a roaring fire regaling an audience with the macabre.

While it may sound dark–and it is dark–it’s actually a really fun book that filled many of my days with delightful fright. Regardless, if you can imagine a young Michigander weened on Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King, then you might understand why this book is important to me and my reading journey. Even these days, I will absent-mindedly pluck it off the bookshelf and flip through the pages. The stories are just that intriguing.

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Living or Acting? The Search for Meaning in ‘My Dinner with Andre’

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How do we approach life in the modern era with our eyes wide open? In My Dinner with Andre, two men sit and have a conversation about this very thing over dinner. It is a long conversation, and they cover many topics, but the theme stays the same: we are all living in a dream. I suppose the film can be construed as dull, but I believe it has important artistic value, and it’s a movie that has the power to change one’s life.

This is a more personal essay than usual because I believe in the spirit of the film. It literally shifted my perception of life at a time when I was unsure about many things. Critically examining one’s life is difficult, but I think this film offers a lot in the way of literary efficiency through analysis.

Similarly, this movie feels literary in its scope. At the heart of it, it is a series of anecdotes from one person’s recent history and philosophical undoing. We have point of view, the oral tradition of storytelling, existentialism, and theme all grounded into a thematic stew. All of this is about finding meaning in life in some way, and it says a lot about the modern age. In this essay, we are going to explore existentialism and how it relates to the film’s message.

Synopsis of the Film

On the surface, My Dinner with Andre (1981) is about a casual dinner at Café des Artistes in Manhattan. Wallace Shawn is a playwright who has recently taken up acting to make ends meet. As he says, being a playwright has not been paying the bills. Shawn’s girlfriend, who is only introduced through his narration, has started waiting tables for extra money.

Shawn narrates: “I became an actor, and people don’t hire you. So, you just spend your days doing the errands of your trade. Today, I had to be up by ten in the morning to make some important phone calls. Then, I had gone to the stationery store to buy envelopes. Then, to the Xerox shop. There were dozens of things to do.”

All of this complicates Shawn’s life. It also begins digging into the theme of existential depression. Shawn seems to be removed from dwelling on this psychological anxiety. We as the audience get the feeling that he has been at this for a while. As such, there is an underlying fear in his words. He is not successful, monetarily or professionally, and that fact has negatively impacted his life. 

“I’ve lived in this city all my life,” Shawn tells us. “I grew up on the Upper East Side and when I was ten years old, I was rich, I was an aristocrat, riding around in taxis, surrounded by comfort, and all I thought about was art and music. Now, I am 36, and all I think about is money.”

What is Existential Depression?

Existential depression is the feeling that life is pointless and without meaning. It is the feeling that one is simply floating in a void of space without much purpose. Of course, this can be a passing moment that does not affect one’s overall outlook on life. Yet, it can have damning effects and change the outcome of one’s future.

Angel Rivera, writing for Depression Alliance, states that, “Existential depression generally occurs in people during periods of deep reflection about the meaning of one’s life and the very purpose and meaning of existence … it can revolve around people’s concerns and attempts to make sense of four main topics: death, isolation, freedom, and meaninglessness.”

The above quote has a lot to do with the point of the conversation between both characters in the movie. Their conversation explores the realization that one can have experiences and one can find meaning in life. But they reject the commonality, the repetition, of life. They do this because it forces adherence to the social constraints into which we have unwillingly been born.

It is as much a movie about existential depression and meaning as it is about two men with differing views about life. As stated, the types of epiphanies that are posed in the film can have both positive and negative results. To be precise, Andre seems to have woken up from a sort of mental stagnation. This paralysis is seemingly imposed on him by external powers.  

Where the Dinner with Andre Takes Us

Shawn, being in an artistically desperate moment in his life, has agreed to dinner with an old theatre colleague, Andre, whose abandoned his role as a director and engaged in bizarre escapades. Andre now talks to trees and, at one point, was found weeping near an old building in the city.

This is, as Wallace puts it, due to the impact of a quote from Ingmar Bergman’s Autumn Sonata (1978):
“I could always live in my art, but never in my life.”

In response, Shawn tells us: “He dropped out of the theater. He sort of disappeared. Obviously, something terrible had happened to Andre.”

The two meet for dinner and begin a lukewarm conversation about the usual humdrum of every day life. It isn’t long before some of Andre’s opinions and thoughts on the world begin to seep into their talk. Andre shares fantastic stories of his travels and the peculiar acts in which he engaged. In one story, he claims to have been buried alive, and Andre’s quivering voice guides the audience through the often-dark tone of the film. Meanwhile, Shawn listens politely, apparently untaken with the spiritual nature of the conversation.

Andre’s penchant for experimentalism in all aspects of his existence has changed the way he views the world, and thus the existential depression of the movie becomes visible as Andre questions what it means to experience art, and for that matter, life, and why complacency, as he tells Shawn, has created a willingness in humans to live an unfeeling life. Andre opens more as the movie progresses and he tells Wallace about the existential realization that began his journey into understanding his role as a human. 

Andre says, “I mean, it’s a very frightening thing, Wally, to have to suddenly realize, that, my God! I thought I was living my life, but in fact I haven’t been a human being. I’ve been a performer. I haven’t been living, I’ve been acting. I’ve acted the role of the father. I’ve acted the role of the husband. I’ve acted the role of the friend. I’ve acted the role of the writer, or director, or what have you.”

And this reflection is confounding, and yet it is both revealing for Andre’s character and critical to most of the audience’s own perceptions about life. Are we just performers, wearing different masks each day and under different circumstances?

He finishes by referring to his wife: “I’ve lived in the same room with this person, but I haven’t really seen them. I haven’t really heard them. I haven’t really been with them.”

As the audience, we are forced to confront the existential nature of this observation. Have we been in the room? Or are we just floating above reality in performances that go on until we die?

Andre’s Existential Outlook

Themes in the Film

The existential dread of this film is palpable, from Andre’s musings about life and Shawn’s attempts at arguing a more grounded existence. And I think by its conclusion, Andre lays out many good arguments about how society has zombified so many aspects of life and experience for the sake of comfort and contentment. There is an instance where Andre asks Shawn about the effects of cutting oneself off from the seasons in favor of a life indoors. It is one of those silly spiritualistic questions that seems disingenuous, but it creates an interesting thread for discussion.

“I mean, what does it do to us, Wally, living in an environment where something as massive as the seasons, or winter, or cold don’t in any way affect us? … I think that means that instead of living under the sun and the moon and the sky and the stars, we’re living in a fantasy world of our own making” (My Dinner with Andre).

Andre continues by telling Wally and the audience that as humans we are more than just husks that eat and procreate. Rather, humans are thinking creatures who learn and relate through experience. Humans learn through dancing in Poland or putting on plays in the Sahara. What is the meaning to life? According to Andre, it very well might be the act of experiential existence. It is life through interaction rather than just going through programmed motions.

“I mean, things don’t affect people the way they used to,” he says. “I mean, it may very well be that 10 years from now, people will pay $10,000 in cash to be castrated, just in order to be affected by something.”

From the Director’s Mouth

Director of My Dinner with Andre (1981) Louis Malle’s own words suit the intent of the film, I think. Malle, in speaking with documentary filmmaker George Hickenlooper during an interview in 1991, answered a question about whether he would ever return to Hollywood to make a movie. He responds as such:

“It’s funny, you know, because I’ve made a film about Calcutta, which is a city of physical and economic despair. And I’ve often thought of making a film about Los Angeles, another city of despair—obviously not economic or material despair, but rather a spiritual and ethical despair which stems from lifestyles saturated by popular culture. Los Angeles has its own mini-culture that has grown to serve as the rhetoric for the rest of the industrial world.”

He goes on: “American popular culture really comes from here … –movies, television, commercials, music—comes from Los Angeles. Not only popular culture, but a whole way of life—this obsession with health, for example—all that stuff comes from here. I think people in this town are mutants. They’re a different species.”

A Continuing Analysis

For me, and how this relates to the central conceit of My Dinner with Andre (1981), is that an unmoored adoption of societal norms is a poison. It is a poison that we should mitigate if we are going to truly live a life that has value. Existential depression comes from a paralysis of the soul,. It comes from when we are at our most unsure about why we get out of bed in the morning. Why having experiences may give us the surety we need to continue living meaningfully.

I am not the only one that feels the existential dread of vapid advertisements or vacuous influencers on social media. Sometimes I don’t even remember why it is that I go to work every day and for what reason. Like Andre says: “Because you have to learn now. It didn’t used to be necessary, but today you have to learn something … are you really hungry or are you just stuffing your face because that’s what you do out of habit?”

In other words, we must examine every action and every drive in our own lives. We do this to understand ourselves better and to give value to those actions. Mindless repetition is a death sentence because we are not giving thought as to why we are performing. Instead we repeat those actions ad infinitum. Thus, existential depression sets in and we look longingly into the void. Yet, answers can not be found.  

Final thoughts on My Dinner with Andre

One statement from Andre that keeps coming back. It is an extremely profound one as well. It made me think about my own role in this world. Andre declares that we must wake up from the prolonged sleepwalking. We need to fight against the feeling of android captivity and the casualty of technology, comfort, and complacency.

“I mean, we’re just walking around in some kind of fog,” Andre says. “I think we’re all in a trance. We’re walking around like zombies, I don’t…I don’t think we’re even aware of ourselves or our own reaction to things, we…we’re just going around all day like unconscious machines and meanwhile there’s all of this rage and worry and uneasiness just building up and building up inside us” (My Dinner with Andre).

I do not think my interpretation perverts the purpose of the film. To that end, I could not help but ask myself a million questions as I watched the movie. Questions about social media, my own substance habits, and my relationships with both my wife and family.

I think, to fight existential depression, you must do as Andre says, and actively participate in your own life. You must fight the feeling to turn on autopilot. And, the feeling to regress to the imaginary world of undefined goals and objectives. These thoughts ultimately stand in opposition to reality. Questioning purpose happens when you feel as though you have no purpose. However, it also happens when you are able to experience the world around you in a real and tangible way. Through this, one can create real, thoughtful reflection.

Works Cited

Hickenlooper, George, and LOUIS MALLE. “My Discussion With Louis: AN INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS MALLE.” Cinéaste, vol. 18, no. 2, 1991, pp. 12–17. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41687809. Accessed 26 May 2021.

My Dinner with Andre. Louis Malle. New Yorker Films,1981. Film.

Rivera, Angel. “Eistential Depression: The Mental Illness of the Gifted & Talented.” Depressionaalliance.org. 2021. URL: https://www.depressionalliance.org/existential-depression/. Accessed on: May 25, 2021.

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What is ‘Analysis’ and What is ‘Literary Analysis’?

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The academic world throes the word analysis around often. If you are unfamiliar with the term then that’s a little confusing, as it appears to imply numerous ways to understand one particular thing and in no particular discipline. This is okay because academia is all about how you define a term as long as you define it. This includes analysis and literary analysis.

In this post, we are going to look at the definition of analysis and we will see how that helps us define literary analysis.

The Definition of Analysis

According to Merriam-Webster analysis is, “a careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do, and how they are related to each other.” Likewise, the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy defines analysis as, “The process of breaking a concept down into more simple parts, so that its logical structure is displayed.”

As we now have working knowledge of analysis, we might see how these definitions defy some of our prior knowledge. That is to say, analysis isn’t an umbrella term that involves poking something with the eraser of a pencil. In fact, it has to do with viewing a particular subject and its moving parts to see how they relate.

How Does This Apply to Literary Analysis?

Understanding analysis helps us understand a term close to the heart of a writer: literary analysis. As literary analysis has been defined, it is “not merely a summary of a literary work,” but rather “an argument about the work that expresses a writer’s personal perspective…” So, it’s not just our opinion, but our perspective on a work as a whole. All the while, analysis involves using our own background and understanding as well. It is literally looking at the elements of a story or a written work and seeing how they interact. We also want to have something to glean from it or understand.

As stated by some researchers: “This is accomplished by examining the literary devices the author uses within the work. The purpose of a literary analysis is to demonstrate why the author used specific ideas to convey his or her message” (Germanna). When we analyze on a literary level, we are looking at form, structure, tone, diction, syntax, etc. Then, we try to understand how all of those ideas relate.

Examples of Literary Analysis

Think about it. We could analyze a single author’s work just by looking at literary conventions such as form and tone.

As a fan of Ray Bradbury, I know that his work and tone differ from book to book because after reading a great deal of his writings, I can begin to understand his style. For example, if you read The Martian Chronicles, then you will know that this book is a collection of short stories (form) that is filled with curiosity and imagination (tone). Meanwhile, if you read Something Wicked this Way Comes then you will see that it’s a full-length novel (form) that is dark and mysterious (tone).

This is a surface-level interpretation but I can also use my own experiences with imagination, wonder, horror, and mystery to inform my analysis. The end goal then is to see how all of these parts work together to make the complete whole.

Concluding Analysis

Our quick examination, and comparisons and contrasts, help us analyze the text by understanding a subjects’ form and tone (short stories, novels, or poems) Yet, we can look at any literary conventions of a text (aside from form and tone), whether that be the characters, the plot, or the theme (or whatever) to conduct our own analysis. As mentioned, we can then tie this all together for one complete analysis the information we glean from this then creates a new understanding in the literary world.

Works Cited

Academic Center for Excellence. “Writing a Literary Analysis Paper.” Germanna Community College, Feb. 2AD, germanna.edu/wp-content/uploads/tutoring/handouts/Literary-Analysis.pdf.     

Analysis > Definitions and Descriptions of Analysis (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). plato.stanford.edu/entries/analysis/s1.html#1.

Definition of ANALYSIS. 20 Nov. 818, merriam-webster.com/dictionary/analysis.

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Social Class in “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield

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Regularly, you will see collections of short stories marked The Greatest Short Stories of All Time, or Short Stories to Read Before You Die. Typically, these books have a number of great stories inside. Edgar Allan Poe will undoubtedly make an appearance. So will “Beyond the Door” by Philip K. Dick, and certainly “The Other Side of the Hedge” by E. M. Forster. In addition, you might find Kate Chopin’s extraordinary “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and the following short story: “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield. 

As you will see, Mansfield’s short story fits well with the classics, as it has a great deal of emotional depth and sheds a light on class conflict. In today’s post, we are going to examine the short story and analyze its themes and importance.

Background of “The Garden Party”

Mansfield wrote “The Garden Party” in 1922. The Saturday Westminster Gazette published it in three parts. It later appeared in the collection The Garden Party and Other Stories.

Mansfield came from an affluent household. She would attend Wellington Girls’ College and later to the Fitzherbert Terrace School. “The Garden Party” illustrates her experience as a well-to-do child from a wealthy home. Yet, it’s also much deeper than just superficial aristocracy. The story has a great reflection on wealth and opportunity. 

“The Garden Party” Summary

Laura, the protagonist, sets about preparing for a fancy garden party. She occasionally looks to the workers in reverence because she feels connected to them.

“Four men in their shirt-sleeves stood grouped together on the garden path. They carried staves covered with rolls of canvas, and they had big tool-bags slung on their backs. They looked impressive. Laura wished now that she had not got the bread-and-butter, but there was nowhere to put it, and she couldn’t possibly throw it away.”

(The Garden Party)

Regardless of the extravagant event, Mansfield presents Laura’s own rich lifestyle as a norm. In this way, Laura is afforded many opportunities to live a separate life from the workers. Laura, though aristocratic, has a great deal of empathy for those from the working class. 

Later in the story, Laura is informed that her neighbor, Mr. Scott, has been killed outside of their home in a car accident. Laura drags her sister into the kitchen to discuss how she will stop the party. Her sister, Jose, confused, doesn’t quite understand what Laura is getting at in her hysteria.

“Stop everything, Laura!” cried Jose in astonishment. “What do you mean?”

“Stop the garden-party, of course.” Why did Jose pretend?

But Jose was still more amazed. “Stop the garden-party? My dear Laura, don’t be so absurd. Of course we can’t do anything of the kind. Nobody expects us to. Don’t be so extravagant.”

“But we can’t possibly have a garden-party with a man dead just outside the front gate.”

(The Garden Party)

After visiting Mr. Scott’s home with party leftovers, she sees his dead body and is overcome by the experience. She likens the man’s peaceful expression to that of somebody in a deep “fast sleep,” and dosing so intensely that he was “far, far away from them both” in the real world.

“Oh, so remote, so peaceful. He was dreaming. Never wake him up again. His head was sunk in the pillow, his eyes were closed; they were blind under the closed eyelids. He was given up to his dream.”

(The Garden Party)

After departing the home and meeting her brother Laurie at the corner, Laura is pulled from her fanciful life and instead grapples with questions of mortality and life itself. Laurie asks her if it was “awful” to witness his corpse.

“No,” sobbed laura. “It was simply marvellous. But Laurie–” She stopped, she looked at her brother. “Isn’t life,” she stammered, “isn’t life–” But what life was she couldn’t explain. No matter. He quite understood. 

“Isn’t it, darling?” said Laurie. 

Themes 

Mansfield’s story discusses multiple themes. These include life, socioeconomic concerns, and the reality of death. In the text, the reader gets a good sense that Laura is living a near fantastical life outside of poverty and circumstance; meanwhile, the workers around her are all living a more grounded existence, as they lack the opportunities and conveniences of Laura’s life. 

However, with that said, Laura is a conscious child and realizes that there are many similarities between herself and the workers. They are all just people after all. Similarly, Laura sees a sort of beauty and patience in Mr. Scott’s death. His expression of happiness as he lies dead in his room is how Laura feels in life. So, there are actually very few differences in both of their lives when class is stripped away. 

Conclusion

In my opinion, “The Garden Party” excels at these themes by providing the reader a window into the atmosphere of wealth. The garden party itself is a foray into decadence. Nevertheless, death drags Laura into reality. By and of itself, Laura has an epiphany about death and her own station in life.

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“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs: Death and Dire Choices

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To think about what we want in our lives, and what we could change is dangerous. In fact, it’s not only dangerous, it’s terrifying. Think: Would you wish for a better life even if you did not know the ramifications of your desires? In “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, a mother and father face this very question about their wants, desires, and futures. However, against our best wishes, the outcome is tragic.

In this post, we will summarize and analyze the choices made in “They Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, which appeared in his short-story collection The Lady of the Barge and the magazine Harper’s Monthly in 1902.

Summary
The Sergeant-Major and the First Wish

“The Monkey’s Paw” is a story about the White family and a magical monkey’s paw that grants them three wishes. The family wants to use the magic paw to their benefit. They soon employ it to turn their dreams into a reality.

The story starts with the White family, Mr. and Mrs. and their son Herbert, expecting a guest. The guest, Sergeant-Major Morris, arrives, and he brings them a monkey’s paw from India. However, he gives them a warning: it comes with “consequences.” He tells them of a man who made two wishes that backfired on him. The third wish was a request for death.

After the Sergeant-Major’s leaving, Mr. White sits “alone in the darkness, gazing at the dying fire, and seeing faces in it …” He then reached for his water only to grab “the monkey’s paw, and with a little shiver he wiped his hand on his coat and went up to bed” (Jacobs).

Soon afterward, Mr. White makes his first wish for 200 pounds and the monkey paw’s hand moves. Though nothing else happens. However, they soon discover that their son Herbert has died in a horrible accident at work. Ironically, they are compensated 200 pounds. Upon discovering the news of their son’s death, Mrs. White’s face “was white, her eyes staring, and her breath inaudible.” Mr. White shares the same sentiment.

Their sorrow and grief is immeasurable.

The Second and Third Wish

Nevertheless, they take the monkey’s paw and wish for Herbert to come back to life. Mr. White does as he is told, but there is no immediate action on the monkey paw’s part. In the evening, there comes a knock on the door. Both parents are in particular shock for two different reasons:

“It’s Herbert!” she screamed. “It’s Herbert!”

She ran to the door, but her husband was before her, and catching her by the arm, held her tightly.

“What are you going to do?” he whispered hoarsely.

“It’s my boy; it’s Herbert!” she cried, struggling mechanically. “I forgot it was two miles away. What are you holding me for? Let go. I must open the door.”

“For God’s sake don’t let it in,” cried the old man, trembling.


Mrs. White’s hysterics come from the sudden realization that her son is out the door and needs to be let in, as he has returned home. Meanwhile, Mr. White’s frenzy comes from his understanding that the shambling corpse of their son is probably at the door, in the condition he was in after the accident. After all, the monkey’s paw has only shown to be cruel in its administration of wishes.

Mrs. White bolts for the door while Mr. White attempts to find the monkey’s paw. The two are met in action, and just as Mr. White hears his wife pull the bolt on the door, he finds the monkey’s paw and makes his wish.

“The knocking ceased suddenly, although the echoes of it were still in the house. He heard the chair drawn back, and the door opened. A cold wind rushed up the staircase, and a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road” (Jacobs).

Conclusion

W.W. Jacobs “The Monkey’s Paw” is a horror story that explores themes of greed, the consequences of tampering with the supernatural, and the moral dilemmas that arise when desires are fulfilled in unexpected and tragic ways. Richard Matheson’s “Button, Button” carries with it a similar tone, in that what we want often overshadows what we need.

For example, the White’s did not necessarily need the 200 pounds (though it may help), and yet by wishing for it they took the life of a loved one. Moreover, in bringing their son back, they continued their greedy selfishness (and what they assumed they deserved in life). Yet, in so many ways, the son who is standing at their door and banging on it loudly from beyond the grave, is the Devil come calling. He is the collector of their shortsightedness and foibles.

Luckily, Mr. White realizes this early and is able to wish the abomination away before Mrs. White is wrought with the sight of the mangled Herbert. The story is a sad one, but teaches us the necessity of restraint. We should be content with what we have if only to disrupt something greater than us, and sometimes I think that’s okay to think about. Money is not necessary for a happy life, and bringing our loved ones back might not be the boon that it seems.

Works Cited

Jacobs, W.W. “The Monkey’s Paw.” The Lady of the Barge. Dodd, Mead and Company, 1902, pp. 158-171.

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Close Reading Techniques for Symbolism

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Have you ever been watching a movie or reading a book and thought, what is the author trying to tell me? For instance, No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy ends on a downer (book and film), but there is actually a rich story and extended metaphor to watch out for in both forms of the story. This is actually a form of symbolism, in which one thing stands for another. Thus, it’s important to focus on close reading techniques for symbolism.

Today, I thought it would be beneficial to explore symbolism in literature to better understand it and get some tips on how to look for it with more skill.

What is symbolism?

To put it simply, symbolism is anything that stands for or represents something else; in literature, this means something metaphorical or symbolic that represents something else. In other words, symbolism is when an “object or element incorporated into a narrative to represent another concept or concern …” which “offer critical, though often overlooked, information about events, characters, and the author’s primary concerns” (Purdue).

Likewise, we can look at symbolism as only having meaning derived in “certain contexts,” so that when two particular ideas are juxtaposed, a third value can be discerned. For example, Leofwine hates death, so therefore Leofwine is afraid to die. A man wearing a black robe comes to Leofwine’s door and knocks. Even though the man is merely a plague doctor visiting Leofwine in the 1300s, Larry sees him as Death incarnate.

“A more sophisticated way of approaching symbolism would be to say that things have symbolic qualities only in certain contexts–and sometimes they do not symbolize anything at all,” states Oregon State University’s School of Writing, Literature, and Film.

Examples:
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
  • Robin Hood’s bow represents his skill and bravery and that he is a capable outlaw with the ability to strike from the distance.
  • Sherwood Forest is a symbol for homelife and safety–both of which Robin Hood lacks in a more practical way.
Treasure Island
  • The Hispaniola (the ship) symbolizes the safety of Captain Smollet, but also a mutinous crew and a need for departure.
  • The treasure map symbolizes the unknown world that Jim Hawkins must explore. It also represents avarice and greed.
How to read for symbolism

In reality, close reading techniques for symbolism really comes down to just that: close reading. Close reading takes a keen eye, but it also takes time, because it asks you to comb over the text, interact, exchange ideas, and reread (not necessarily in that order).

The following tips come from Vanderbilt University, and are some exercises you can do to better close read a text:

  • Selecting chunks of the text rather than the entire thing.
  • Reread the passages you have selected multiple times.
  • Look for patterns, themes, or references.
  • Analyze the word choice and the author’s tone.
Works Cited

“How to do a Close Reading of Fiction.” Vanderbilt University. Web. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/writing/resources/handouts/close-read-fiction/

“What is symbolism?” Oregon State University. Web. https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-symbolism

“Literary Terms.” Purdue University. Web. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_terms/index.html

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Authority Figures in Literature: Portrayal and Examples

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The Sheriff of Nottingham is typically a rather looming menace in Robin Hood lore. In Howard Pyle’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, he is otherwise a background antagonist who is often foiled. However, he is still an authority figure and sets out to stop Robin Hood and capture the outlaw once and for all. This is just one example of authority figures in literature.

In this post, we are going to examine authority figures in literature and analyze what makes them tick and why they are so pronounced in so many books we love.

Making an authority figure

Authority figures in literature often help propel narratives, shape existing characters, and reflect the themes of the novel in which they appear. The authority figure often ranges in background and scope, from representatives to hospital nurses. As such, authority figures show us how the author perceives power and control in a novel.

The Role of Authority Figures

Authority figures factor into novels for many reasons. Their very presence lends itself to plot development. They also show the norms and mores of a particular society or institutions. The encourage character development, and they also highlight power dynamics in stories as well. Here are some of those examples further defined:

Drive the Plot

Authority figures act as a central conflict for many novels (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, 1984, The Great Gatsby, The Crucible, etc.). As such, their very drive pushes the plot of the story forward, such as Randall Flagg’s attempt at control in Las Vegas in Stephen King’s The Stand, which results in the crucifixion of those who do not comply.

    Represent Norms and Values

    Authority figures also show the norms and value of a society. In Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Captain Smollett represents the moral and ethical side of seafaring life by encouraging the crew to stay the course and not violently oppressing those around him (unlike Long John Silver).

      Encourage Character Development

      Authority Figures challenge the hero of a novel to grow and change. For instance, in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Hank Morgan is pushed to change his views of the society by those around him, after seeing the desperate way in which the church uses its authority to manipulate and oppress the people of Britain.

        Illuminates Power

        Authority figures also reveal the complexities of power. In referring back to A Connecticut Yankee, we find Hank Morgan challenged multiple times to change his use of authority to avoid disaster; ultimately, it leads to the complete destruction of his empire when he quarrels with the Church.

          What makes them tick

          Authority figures in literature often have multiple motivations for why they seek power over other individuals. Some of these reasons include:

          Desire for Control

          Authority figures need to maintain control over their environment and their people. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the pig antagonist Napoleon uses revisionism in order to bring the animals in line with his goals; likewise, he urges the animals to fight for the good of the farm even though it has more to do with his wants and gains. Similarly, in Orwell’s 1984, Big Brother attempts to control every aspect of a person’s life by manipulating their history, news, and environment.

            Sense of Duty/Responsibility

            Authority figures also appeal to their own sense of duty and responsibility when it comes to maintaining order. While seemingly more benevolent, this can be seen in many of the characters and cities in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings saga, from Gondor to Rohan. Additionally, one could argue that the evil dragon Smaug, who guards a horde of gold, does so out of a sense of duty and responsibility to himself (due to his lust for treasure).

              Ambition and Greed

              Authority figures also have a selfish sense of their own power. As such, they are driven by their own purpose and their own greed. A desire for more power definitely drives many authority figures. The Wizard from The Wizard of Oz admits that he kept up the ruse about being a wizard (when he was in fact not a wizard) in order to dupe the citizens of the Emerald City. Additionally, greed drives many characters in positions of authority. Greed also drives characters of authority. Ebenezer Scrooge, for instance, has a great deal of control over people’s loans, and uses that power in order to extort and threaten those who cannot pay.

                Insecurity and Fear

                Authority figures are also rife in insecurity and fear, thus their power comes from their very limited self worth. Severus Snape in the Harry Potter franchise is an insecure and fearful man due to his history with Harry’s father, James, and Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, thus he uses his authority to punish and hurt Harry while he is at Hogwarts.

                  Conclusion

                  There are many reasons why authority figures appear in novels, and there are many reasons for why they act the way that they do in the context of a story. I think if we keep these reasons and attributes in mind, we can better analyze authority figures in novels. Moreover, understanding the motivations of fictional characters can help us see the exact same motivations in the real world. For instance, ambition, greed, and a lust for power is perfectly evident in our culture, from the business world to the political realm, and with such insight from our own knowledge, we can better judge and asses these actors in our world, which may govern our overall reactions to ethical and unethical conduct.

                  Works Cited
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                  “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce: Analysis

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                  When I was in middle school, I had the privilege of seeing a collection of popular short stories performed as plays for my entire middle school class. The plays were cleverly sequenced: horror/comedy/horror/comedy. These stories included “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, “The Mouse” by Saki, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce and “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O’Henry. My adolescent brain loved these stories and I remember that event fondly.

                  Yet, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” made me profoundly sad due to its content. It also impacted my literary tastes immediately, as I grew interested in horror, science fiction, and fantasy. In this post, we will summarize and analyze Ambrose Bierce’s masterpiece “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” because it affected me greatly. And, as for all stories I share, I hope it does the same for you.

                  About the Author

                  Ambrose Bierce, American Author of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

                  Ambrose Bierce was born on June 24th, 1842, in Meigs County, Ohio. During the Civil War, he fought in the battles of Shiloh and Chickamauga in the Indiana infantry unit. Later, he worked at various newspapers as reporter and editor. These papers included the News Letter, the Argonaut, the Wasp, and the San Francisco Examiner. His experience during the Civil War hampered his view of humanity and his stories reflect this vision.

                  “During his lifetime, Bierce published numerous works. He became well known for his sarcasm and his interest in supernatural topics. Among his most important books are Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California, Cobwebs From an Empty Skull, The Devil’s Dictionary, and Tales of Soldiers and Civilians.”

                  Bierce disappeared in Mexico and presumably died in 1914 after joining Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa’s army (Abrams).

                  Summary
                  Destroying the Bridge

                  Set during the Civil War, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is about a Confederate sympathizer, Peyton Farquhar. Farquhar intends to blow up Owl Creek Bridge. He plans to do so because Union soldiers have captured it and intend to use it during the war.

                  In speaking with a Confederate soldier one evening, Farquhar is told of the particulars:

                  “’The Yanks are repairing the railroads,’ said the man, ‘and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels, or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order’” (Bierce)

                  The Confederate soldier, as it turns out, is actually a Union scout passing out bad information. Farquhar is captured and sentenced to death for threat of interfering with the bridge. He is to be hanged at Owl Creek Bridge. However, as he plummets to certain death from above, the rope around his neck snaps and he falls into the waters below. He is able to free his hands, and he swims away to safety amidst rifle and cannon fire.

                  A Journey Through Fantasy

                  “As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther downstream—nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets” (Bierce).

                  From there, Farquhar traverses the North heading South until he is finally back home. He sees his wife in the distance and runs to her. Before they can embrace, he feels “a stunning blow upon the back of (his) neck.” He sees “a blinding white light all about him like the shock of a cannon,” and then it is revealed that he never escaped his moment of expiration; in fact, he has just been executed by hanging at Owl Creek Bridge.

                  Analysis
                  Futility

                  I have discussed futility on this blog before, as it seems to come up in a lot of literature (writers don’t have time for utility). Futility, as I’ve discussed, is a sort of philosophy that acknowledges that—try as we might—we are destined to lose against the fates. With that comes many negative existential questions: why keep living? why do anything? Well, futility addresses many bleak realities that we have to face as humans, which prepares us for the ugliness of truth.

                  These realities include but are not limited to the following:

                  • We are not remarkable.
                  • We will not be remembered.
                  • We are going to die.

                  Yes, that’s dour, but it also forces the reader to imagine the real now in their existence and not the fake now they’ve constructed in their head. Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” does the same. It tells us that there is no glory in warfare and violence. Commit violence and you will die. Farquhar was warned of that by the federal scout in disguise, and he still pushed ahead with his plan anyway, expecting to burn the bridge down and save the day (fake now). Unfortunately, that’s not how real life works and consequences happen (real now).

                  Living With Reality

                  In the end, we cannot romanticize the fantasies of our life if we are not living in the realities of the now. Bierce’s story veers from present to past to imagined. The realities are shifted, whether standing on a bridge waiting to die, talking to a Federal scout in disguise, or rushing to embrace a wife. Farquhar’s bravery and intent for violence was undone by how he imagined his own bravery and his own fate (freedom), which ultimately killed him no less. Thus, the futility of valor and warfare (and living in a false reality) can be seen in the violence of death and execution.

                  Farquhar doesn’t drive the enemy away from his home with his actions. He dies. All the while shrouded in the futile illusion of his own honor.

                  Works Cited

                  Abrams, Garry. “Stranger Than Fiction : Mystery: The case of Ambrose Bierce, the disappearing author, may have been solved by the publisher of a new collection of the writer’s short stories.” Lost Angeles Times. June 25, 1991. URL: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-25-vw-1440-story.html

                  Bierce, Ambrose. “An Occurence at Owl Creek.” Millennium Fulcrum, 1AD, gutenberg.org/files/375/375-h/375-h.htm.

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                  The continuing horror of ‘More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’

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                  Nightmare fuel is kind of my buzzword for Halloween, used in the best possible way of course. Previously, we analyzed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. In that post, we discussed Alvin Schwartz’s nightmarish tales and Stephen Gammell’s tremendously monstrous artwork. The sequel is without a doubt similar as the first book. Yet, sometimes the stories and images are even darker than the previous offering. In this post, we are going to look at More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Schwartz.

                  About the book

                  More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark came out on October 31st, 1984. The stories were again penned by Alvin Schwartz and the nightmarish imagery was conjured by artist Stephen Gammell. The book features a litany of terrifying tales, from confused ghosts to undead sailors rising from their watery graves.

                  It’s actually an eclectic mixture of stories, and some of these 28 stories include:

                  • Something was Wrong
                  • The Wreck
                  • One Sunday Morning
                  • Sounds
                  • A Weird Blue Light
                  • Somebody Fell from Aloft
                  • The Little Black Dog
                  • Clinkity-Clink
                  • The Bride

                  Reviewers have pointed out that this collection is “scarier and more adult” than the previous collection. I think at this point, Schwartz had nailed down what made the original so successful and so much fun.

                  My favorite story from the collection

                  “The Bed by the Window” by Stephen Gammell

                  There are so many good stories across all three books and this book, too!

                  In my opinion, many of the best stories come from the section titled, “When I Wake Up, Everything Will Be Alright.” In this section, we find stories like “The Man in the Middle,” “The Cat in the Shopping Bag,” and, “The Bed by the Window.” Each of these is a macabre look into the tastes of Alvin Schwartz.

                  The Bed by the Window

                  “The Bed by the Window” is a story I think about often, because it’s a sad look at jealousy and envy in the face of death.

                  To start, the story describes the characters of George Best and Richard Greene, who are bedridden and share a room at a nursing home. After the third man in the room, Ted Conklin, dies, the remaining two men are shifted over one spot, winning George Best the prized bed by the window. There, he regales Richard with all sorts of descriptions of the outside world, but soon Richard becomes jealous. Murderously jealous.

                  The story states, “George had a bad heart. If he had an attack during the night and nurse could not get to him right away, he had pills he could take … All Richard had to do was knock the bottle to the floor where George could not reach it” (Schwartz)

                  Of course, this wouldn’t be More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark if somebody didn’t die. So, Richard willfully murders George. Then, he gets the bed by the window only to discover that “the window” was really just a “brick wall” and George had been describing things from his imagination to be kind to Richard.

                  It is a grim ending, and it is a dark story, but I’ve thought about it since I first read it when I was a kid and that tells me that regardless of its dark tone—it strikes a chord with me somewhere in the depths of my soul.

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                  “To Build a Fire” by Jack London Analysis

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                  When considering literary realism and naturalism, there are many stories that come to mind. However, there is one I often think of that is extremely important to both genres. The short story I am referring one of the more popular stories of the realism and naturalist movement: “To Build a Fire” (1908) by Jack London. Much like how one feels after reading “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890) by Ambrose Bierce, “To Build a Fire” (1902) typically ignites an emotional reaction. Essentially, it has much to do with London’s ability to tell a story about humanity’s fight with nature, and its often despondent outcome.

                  In this post, we will summarize the story and analyze it, reflecting on its themes.

                  Summary of “To Build a Fire” by Jack London

                  In “To Build a Fire,” a nameless man attempts to travel to a campsite near the Yukon River on a winters day. He is a chechaquo (or newcomer) and finds himself woefully ill-equipped to venture into the wilderness. This becomes apparent when he makes novice mistakes along the way. For instance, he travels alone save for a dog (husky), and does not take enough equipment with him to make the jaunt.

                  London also states that the man lacked imagination:

                  The trouble with him was that he was not able to imagine. He was quick and ready in the things of life, but only in the things, and not in their meanings. Fifty degrees below zero meant 80 degrees of frost. Such facts told him that it was cold and uncomfortable, and that was all. It did not lead him to consider his weaknesses as a creature affected by temperature” (London).

                  In other words, the man was narrowminded in his conception of danger. The cold would affect him, he resolved, but he did not formulate more intense disaster. The cold could cause hypothermia. The water could cause frostbite. The cold could cause death. These ideas were not at the forefront of his mind; rather, he intended to be to camp by 6 o’clock.

                  However, after stopping for lunch and a fire, he breaks through thin ice and wets his legs–something that is quite dire in the frozen landscape of the Yukon. After this, he stops to build another fire to warm up, but it is extinguished due to his ignorance while attempting to fan the flames underneath a snow-laden tree. The snow falls from the upper branches and puts out the fire. Afterward, he fails in his attempts to relight the fire, and he burns his own numb hands with his matches.

                  London writes: “Each stick smoked a little and died. The fire provider had failed.”

                  In a last ditch effort, he attempts to draw the husky near him so he can strangle it and use its warmth for his frozen limbs. However, he is too numb to enact his goal, and fails to both strangle the dog and kill it with his knife. London writes that the man “could not grasp” the dog and there “was neither bend nor feeling” in his fingers. Similarly, he realized “all he could do” was “hold its body encircled in his arms…” The man “realized that he could not kill the dog.”

                  He then tries to head for the camp but continuously stumbles, unable to regain his former strength. Slowly, the cold overtakes him, and as he imagines himself with his friends discovering his own body, he dies of hypothermia. “He did not belong with himself any more,” London states. “Even then he was outside himself, standing with the boys and looking at himself in the snow. It certainly was cold, was his thought.”

                  Analysis of “To Build a Fire” by Jack London

                  In “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, there are a variety of themes to interpret. Mostly, it is a quintessential man versus nature story, set within the realm of literary naturalism. The environment in the story serves as the antagonist. The cold, freezing temperature and the inhospitable environment all link itself to a harsh, uncaring world (a theme in naturalist writing). The unnamed protagonist struggles against this malevolence as anybody would, but he also suffers from his own lack of foresight (another determining factor for naturalism). There is not fate, per say, but he does experience his own choices in real time, as he falls prey to the icy cold.

                  What is more, our protagonist is unnamed, which allows the reader to put themselves into his shoes, feeling the cold creep inside us in a similar fashion. London does this intentionally to give the story a gritty, relatable feeling. When the protagonist’s fingers are numb–our fingers our numb. And, when he decides to kill the dog to save himself, London forces us to think about this choice personally. Would we do the same if it meant saving our own lives?

                  Similarly, the ending is not determinist, but a result of the character’s actions overall. While there is futility in his death, there is also a lesson to be learned: heed the warnings of those with experience. His own naivety and stubbornness causes his death, because he failed to follow the wisdom of those accustomed to the harsh Yukon winter. The man thinks that while “he had had the accident … he had saved himself” and that the men who had advised him “were rather womanish.” Instead, to survive, all he “must do was to keep his head …”

                  Of course, none of these thoughts turn out to be well-guided. The failure to utilize the wisdom of others is a limiting factor in our lives, London says, because it creates rudimentary and incredulous thought toward survival. As the protagonist thinks: he just needs to keep his wits about him. Yet, nature does not care about one’s wits. It is a uncaring, hostile place where only the strong survive.

                  Conclusion

                  In the story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, the reader learns a great deal about nature and its dangers. On one level, we learn that the Yukon itself is a dangerous place. We learn that one should listen to those with experience, and we also learn to be sensible. On another level, we learn that nature itself is neither a villain nor an ally. Nature is neutral in its affectation. With that being said, humanity is not sacred, and it is certainly not special. It just exists–like nature. Therefore, it is humanity’s job to protect itself from its indifference.

                  Works Cited

                  London, Jack. “Great Short Works of Jack London.” Harper and Row. 1965. Print.

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                  “I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane Analysis

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                  In the literary realism movement, we have a great deal of authors and their novels doing some heavy lifting. In today’s post, a poem titled “I saw a man pursuing the horizon” by Stephen Crane will do the work.

                  Analysis of “I saw a man pursuing the horizon”

                  In the first stanza of the poem, Crane discusses seeing a man “pursuing the horizon.” For what purpose, we are yet to be sure. But, we know that as he watched the man, he goes “round and round,” speeding toward the destination.

                  Yet, the man’s strange pursuit “disturbed” the speaker. So, he engages the man. He tells him, “‘It is futile,'” I said, / ‘You can never–‘” Then the man cries, “You lie!” and runs on toward the horizon.

                  In this brief poem, Crane epitomizes a few things as it relates to human error. First, the poem addresses humanity’s fascination with futility. That is to say, even if something is not worth pursuing because it is hopeless, humanity has a way to strive straight for it head first. Second, Crane points out that no matter if humanity is confronted by their own ignorance, there narrowmindedness is so strident that even the obvious could not deter them.

                  Crane writes “round and round” not because the man is making a beeline toward the horizon. Rather that he is trapped in a desert loop, forever hunting for the horizon. It is in this realization that we understand the mocking nature that man must presume he is near when laboring under delusions. In “I saw a man pursuing the horizon,” Crane is letting his cynicism outward into the light. In other words, humanity will have their joyous ending whether it is there or not, and whether it kills them in following it or not.

                  The poem fits the literary realism only in its pessimistic view of humanity. It is certainly a view fellow literary realist writer Mark Twain would agree with. The desperate nature for humans to get what they want is unquenchable in Crane’s eyes. That does ring true if one considers historical accounts of bad decisions and outright irrational behavior for something as grand as catching the horizon.

                  Works Cited

                  Crane, Stephen. “I Saw a Man Pursuing the Horizon.” The Red Badge of Courage, Dover Publications, 1997, pp. 171-172.

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                  “Hap” by Thomas Hardy Analysis

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                  Thomas Hardy wrote “Hap” in the 1860s and it was one of his earliest poems. It details happenstance, misfortune, and the random nature of the world. Hardy, who was in his 20s, was touching on a theme that would dominate much of his work throughout his life: that there is no Gods’ plan and that chance rules our lives instead.

                  Background and Analysis

                  We could look at this poem, ideally, from a previously discussed discipline that appears in the neutral form of “naturalism,” which doesn’t “care about humanity and (is) neither good nor bad” (BA English Notes). This, of course, is a more rational appeal toward nature and our own lives because we aren’t necessarily looking to the mystical for knowledge, but, rather, our own abilities and intuition.

                  “Hap” is a blending of Italian and English sonnet forms because “the first eight lines rhyme ababcdcd rather than abbaabba,” and this, “makes the poem a curious hybrid of the English and Italian sonnet forms, lending the poem’s rhyme scheme an air of uncertainty …”  (BA English Notes). So, the structure is definitely an amalgamation of styles, which suits the topic perfectly.

                  What follows is the poem in its entirety.

                  “Hap” By Thomas Hardy

                  If but some vengeful god would call to me
                  From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
                  Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
                  That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!” 

                  Then would I bear it, clench myself, and die,
                  Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
                  Half-eased in that a Powerfuller than I
                  Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.

                  But not so.   How arrives it joy lies slain,
                  And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
                  —Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
                  And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan. . . .
                  These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
                  Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.

                  Conclusion

                  We often stumble upon all sorts of good poems by happenstance, and “Hap” is one of those. The poem takes a few styles and transcends with an interesting theme and excellent imagery. Using naturalism as a center, it conveys the fight against nature and the dangers of

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                  A Modest Proposal Explained: Satire, Society, and Swift

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                  Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” is an essay worth addressing on its own because it’s a funny, shocking piece. It’s also many people’s entrance into the world of satire. For newbies, “A Modest Proposal” is an essay by Swift that advocates selling the poor children of Scotland to the rich for nourishment. The essay also does an excellent job of capturing Swift’s style succinctly. In this post, we will discuss the essay and its impact on literary history.

                  Historical Context for the Proposal

                  For an essay like “A Modest Proposal” to take life, the economic environment must be perfect for a writer to write. In Swift’s case, the environment was volatile and hostile for Scotland. Ever since joining with England in 1707, the country had been on a downward spin. Under the Acts of Union enacted that year, Scotland fell under England’s rule. Many Scottish people saw this as a blatant disgrace to their own sovereignty. The Scottish parliament dissolved and fell under Westminster.

                  Meanwhile, the Jacobites in 18th-century Scotland attempted to reinstate Scottish rule. As such, the Jacobite Rising of 1715 occurred, which attempted to restore James Francis Edward Stuart to the throne. The rebellion failed and England became more peremptory in their oversight.

                  Poverty was everywhere in Scotland, and economic growth was slow to start. In these downtrodden times, Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” came to life.

                  What is “A Modest Proposal”?

                  Written in 1729, “A Modest Proposal” is a snarky essay that Swift wrote discussing the poor conditions of the Irish people. It argues that they should sell their children as food to the wealthy elites. These elites could be the British, who Swift believe have had a negative impact on the Irish economy.

                  As Swift states in A Modest Proposal, “Infant’s flesh will be in season throughout the year, but more plentiful in March, and a little before and after,” and later, “Supposing that one thousand families in this city would be constant customers for infants flesh, besides other who might have it at merry meetings, particularly weddings and christenings …” It’s a lot funnier if you get the spirit of the thing.

                  Others have suggested that Swift was merely pointing out the baffling, catch-all solutions that were often offered by the ruling class. But, there are other matters in A Modest Proposal aside from just selling babies to cannibalistic elites. Swift recognizes that Irish politicians don’t benefit the Irish populace any more than the English exploit the Irish. In other words, both the Irish politicians and English politicians aren’t working for the Irish population’s benefit. As such, Swift’s proposal would (though not seriously) line the pockets of families looking to sell their babies and would therefore make children a valuable commodity.

                  Conclusion

                  It’s a grisly piece. Yet, it’s worth a read because it really draws attention to the problems of Swift’s day. It also inspired future writers like Voltaire and George Orwell in their satirical approaches to politics contemporary to them. It also furthered social and political criticism, which would continue throughout literary history in Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut. In addition to this, I think if one looks closely enough, they can see how the themes of “A Modest Proposal” are still relevant today in its ideas of exploitation and ineffectual representation.