When I read Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, I got lost in the story—the characters, setting, and story line—so much that a long time after I read it, I still pondered about it. I imagined myself living in those times, I unconsciously spoke with a British accent, and I even wrote a paper comparing myself to Pip, the protagonist of the story. This, to me, is why we should study literature. We sometimes need to get away from the continuous humdrum of our everyday lives. Literature provides that escape. One can explore 19th century London in Oliver Twist, experience love and the class system in Pride and Prejudice, or go down to the depths of hell in Inferno. Studying literature enables us to escape our everyday lives and increase our capacities of imagination, making us livelier and better people.
My strengths are that I read fast and when I start reading a story, I don’t stop until I am done, especially if the story is very interesting. My weakness is that it is sometimes difficult for me to pick out patterns or symbols when I read. Thankfully, I am improving on that by annotating when I read. Next quarter, my goals are to become a more sensitive reader and improve on my weaknesses. I also want to read other works on my own, especially Dante’s Inferno and Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones. When I was reading Fences, I hated the story at first. I wondered why we had to read literature in “ghetto” language; it reminded me of the disruptive kids in the hallways. However, as I read on, I understood Troy’s plight, and the friendships and family relationships in the play. The story became more than slang words. I was really surprised about how much I liked it after I finished reading it. What stuck out about my reading was the idea of a fence representing the American Dream, and how African Americans tried to live that dream. Today, a lot of African Americans don’t understand what their ancestors did to get them where they are today. They just destroy their lives and their opportunities, and that really makes me angry.
My writing strengths are that I have good grammar skills and my work is understandable. My weaknesses are that I am not as good as I would like at analyzing literature or poetry. My papers are more like summaries of the stories than analyses. When Ms. Ahearn graded my “Sestina” paper, she said I had good structure, but I have to work on my analysis. That is my goal for the next quarter. I will become a better analyst. I got better at proofreading my writing. Last year, Ms. Partridge always told me to proofread, proofread, proofread, but I always had some mistakes. This year, I make sure I have no errors in my writing. I am looking forward to reading new books and improving my writing skills.
“You with your precious eyes, you’re blind to the corruption of your life,” says Tiresias, a prophet, to Oedipus. This quote reinforces the idea that Oedipus “remains in the dark,” meaning he is ignorant to the truth about his life and of his tragic fate. Because Oedipus is a man of action, a quality that makes him a tragic hero, he goes on a search to find the truth. Unfortunately, he does know what fate has in store for him. In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus’s relentless quest to get out of the darkness, a metaphor for ignorance, leads to his downfall, so he literally blinds himself in an attempt to return to that ignorance.
Throughout Oedipus Rex, references to dark and light illustrate Oedipus’s ignorance about his life. When Tiresias, who is blind, tries to tell Oedipus the truth about his life, Oedipus becomes really angry and both men get into a confrontation. Tiresias mocks Oedipus for not knowing who his real parents are, causing Oedipus, confused, to ask, “Parents – who? Wait…who is my father?” All his life, Oedipus believed that his parents were Polybus and Merope, the king and queen of Corinth. In Corinth, he heard that he will kill his father and marry his mother, so he ran away to escape this fate. Ironically, the road he took to escape his fate led him there instead. Tiresias tells Oedipus that “darkness [shrouds his] eyes that now see the light.” Although Oedipus can literally see, he is figuratively blind. He is unable to see that he killed Laius, his father and married Jocasta, his mother. Meanwhile Tiresias, who is literally blind, is able to see the truth because he “sees with the eyes of Apollo.” This shows that sight and light, and blindness and darkness, are not used in the literal sense; they represent knowledge and ignorance. Thus, Oedipus is ignorant and Tiresias has knowledge.
Because Oedipus doesn’t know who killed Laius, he immediately goes on a search to find and punish the culprit; he wants to know who committed such a horrible crime. Oedipus acts quickly, often before thinking, and this is his tragic flaw. There is a plague in Thebes because Laius, the former king, was killed. When the chorus, or voice of the people, come crying to Oedipus about the terrible plague, Oedipus says, “I acted at once.” He immediately sends for people who can provide him with answers because he wants to know. Other kings may have sent messengers to find out the truth, but Oedipus searches for the murderer himself. He promises to “rid [Thebes] of this corruption,” and to “bring it all to light [him]self.” The only thing he can focus on is finding out the truth. He desperately wants to get out of this darkness and see the light. He thinks that finding out the truth will make him happier and safer.
In his obsessive search for the truth, Oedipus ignores all the warnings of his impending doom. He is so consumed with finding the truth that it is all he can think about. “[T]he truth is only pain to him who sees,” pleads Tiresias, trying to convince Oedipus to stop this quest. Jocasta, Oedipus’s wife (and mother), tells Oedipus to be content with his present life and to stop searching for the truth. Finally, the shepherd refuses to tell Oedipus the final clue that will reveal the whole truth to Oedipus. Tiresias, Jocasta, and the shepherd recognize what will happen if Oedipus finds out the truth and they try to prevent this, but he ignores all of them. At this point, he is like a hungry animal with a gluttonous appetite for the truth. He desperately wants to see this light, and he would do anything to achieve that, including torturing the old, helpless shepherd. What he doesn’t realize is that the truth can sometimes cause more harm than it can help.
Oedipus finally discovers the truth, but he does not like what he sees. After Oedipus’s guards torture the shepherd, the latter finally tells the former that he was the baby whom the shepherd found on Mount Cithaeron and gave to the royal family in Corinth. At this moment, everything has been “burst to light.” Oedipus realizes that it is he, in fact, who killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling the very prophecy he tried to escape. “O light – now let me look my last on you,” laments Oedipus. He finally sees the light that many people tried to prevent him from seeing. Unfortunately, he discovers that the light is too bright for his eyes. The knowledge he wanted so much led to his downfall.
In the end, Oedipus blinds himself because he wants to go back to the ignorance in the beginning of the play. Oedipus is so devastated when he finds out that he had fulfilled the horrible prophecy that he uses gold pins to gouge out his eyes and cries, “you’ll see no more the pain I caused.” He even wishes he could “block off [his] ears” so that he would be unable to hear the sounds of life. If he had “remained in the dark,” Jocasta would still be alive, and his daughters Antigone and Ismene would have better futures. Now, Jocasta is dead and no one would want to marry Antigone or Ismene, the spawn of an incestuous relationship. Oedipus now sees that knowledge is pain, so he wants to return to darkness.
Sophocles once said, “not all things are to be discovered; many are better concealed.” Oedipus learns this lesson the hard way. Like Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Oedipus wants knowledge with a passion. He is obsessed with getting out of the dark. When he finally finds this knowledge, he learns that sometimes it’s better not to know the truth. Even though Oedipus had a tragic fate, his determination and actions make him a hero.
Here is the link to my Fences website. Bobbie and I have a lot planned for you and I think it will make you laugh (or chuckle, at least). You will know what I'm talking about when you click here.
Assignment: Write a very brief reflection on the process of writing your first AP paper on Bishop's "Sestina." Especially note what your writing strengths and weaknesses are.
It was very difficult for me to begin my essay. I had details, but I didn't know where to start because I kept doubting myself. I didn't want to sound like I was trying too hard. I wrote from the middle to the beginning to the end. Overall, I think it turned out ok for my first poetry analyis essay, but I can definitely do better.
This was my favorite blog post because I got to reflect on the process of writing my fist official AP lit paper, and I had a chance to read other students' reflections. I saw that we all go through very different processes when we write. Finally, I was very (pleasantly) surprised by the grade I received on my "Sestina" paper.
In “Sestina” by Elizabeth Bishop, a grandmother and her grandchild deal with the loss of a member of their family. The grandmother is sad because of the loss of probably her husband or her son, and although she tries to hide this sadness from the child, it is apparent that the child is aware of the sadness. The setting of the poem and Bishop’s use of repetition and personification reinforce the melancholy mood of the poem and show that the child understands the grief that the grandmother is trying to hide.
The rainy and chilly setting in “Sestina” portrays the melancholy mood of the poem. In the poem, the “rain […] beats on the roof of the house.” Rain has negative connotations and it can be associated with sadness. The grandmother complains that the house “feels chilly” and she tries to alleviate this by “[putting] wood in the stove.” This chill represents death, loss, and sadness, and the grandmother, in an attempt to make the child oblivious to this, tries to bring warmth to the house by adding wood to the fire.
Personification is very important in explaining the meaning of the poem. The almanac, the teakettle, and the stove are personified, helping the reader gain a better understanding of the poem. The reason for the grandmother’s tears was “foretold by the almanac,” and the almanac said, “I know what I know” and “Time to plant tears.” The almanac is the bearer of bad news because it foretells the grandmother’s sadness. The grandmother hangs up this almanac, but instead it “hovers half open above the child,” making the sadness present in the house. The stove says, “It was to be,” echoing the almanac’s prediction. According to the stove, the loss is an act of fate and there is no way to escaping it.
In a sestina, the last words of every stanza are repeated throughout the poem, emphasizing an idea. Bishop does an amazing job of portraying that sense of loss through her repetition of “house,” “grandmother,” “child,” “stove,” “almanac,” and “tears.” The grandmother laughs and talks to “hide her tears” but the tears are visible all over the house. The child sees the teakettle’s “small hard tears” on the stove, the child draws a man wearing a coat with "buttons shaped like tears," and tears fall from the almanac into the flower bed the child has drawn in front of the house. The sadness is apparent to the child, even though the grandmother tries to hide it. The painting of the father shows that the child understands why the grandmother is sad. The man in the painting lets the reader infer that the person lost is probably the child’s father or grandfather.
The rain that falls on the house, the almanac’s prediction, the child’s picture, and the tears are all evidence of the sadness that the grandmother feels. Reading jokes from the almanac, adding wood to the fire, and trying to go on with daily activities like having tea is the grandmother’s way of keeping the sadness to herself because the grandmother doesn’t want the child to see her sad. However, the sadness makes itself known everywhere in the gloomy house. By drawing the picture, the child shows that she understands the sadness that her grandmother is trying so hard to protect her from.
