Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night / Dylan Thomas

This poem show how those that are dieing do not do so quietly.  They all talk of something on their way out.  Some will rage against it and wish they could have done more in their life.  Some rage about what they have done hoping to live on past their death.  They hope to imprint their legacy onto someone else even when their achievements do not amount to much. The speaker tells what many other men do when they are leaving this world.  The speaker then asks his father to do the same. “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray” (Thomas 968).  This quote shows what the speaker hopes to accomplish through his fathers raging. He hopes to learn what his father wished to do and what he did do.  This knowledge will make the speaker sad but also bless him with a deeper knowledge of who his father was.

That time of year / William Shakespeare

Shakespeare is relating death with fall and the death or hibernation of nature.  Death is a part of nature that cannot be out run or evaded.  Death finds everything.  The poem’s speaker is an old gentleman. He is associating the end of a late fall day with the closing days of his life. Death comes quietly like sleep. He is laying on the failed dreams of his youth.  He thinks of the things he aspired to do and they stay with him unto his death.  “Consumed with that which it was nourished by,” (Shakespeare 967).  This quote shows how his dreams are affecting him now. In his youth they fuelled him on to try and accomplish better and better things.  In his old age they now eat away at his contentment and consume him with regrets. 

Crossing the Bar / Alfred Lord Tennyson

His destiny calls this is represented by the sunset and evening star. The stares and phases of the day do not change.  This is commonly used as a simple for inevitability. The term star-crossed lovers come to mind as well. The speaker seems to know he will die at see.  He asked the bar or the barrier between life and death to not worry when he sets out to see. I think this supports my opinion that e knows he is going to die.  “I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar,” (Tennyson 886). This phrase shows another example of the bar representing death.  The Pilot I think is God who is waiting for him after death. The bar could represent the angle of death.  This could mean that he is trying to comfort the angel in a way by trying to say he is not running from death.

Arose for Emily / William Faulkner

A rose for Emily is a creepy story about a creepy lady.  She is the crazy lady of the town but was not originally thought as such.  She is a woman living in the wrong time period. She did grow up in the correct on but time just speed right past her.  She does not except the changes of the modern times.  She lives in the past and rarely leaves her house.  “Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty, and a care; a sort of hereditary obligation upon the town, dating from that day in 1894” (Faulkner 282).  This quote shows how the town had to support her but also that they really did not care for her.  They left her to do what she would like even if it did not fallow what the norm of society does.  The word alive in this sentence goes along with a latter word of then in another sentence.  These words show how the town’s perceptions of her changed over time.  They originally thought she was just grieving her father but it eventually turned into insanity.  They left her to do what she wanted and gave her some respect but when she died they promptly were willing to bury her and be done with her peculiar ways.

The Lottery / Shirley Jackson

The Lottery goes against most everything anyone would think in the modern times.  They stone someone every year because of tradition.  Killing someone for no apparent reason except tradition reason is nuts.  The whole town seems resigned to it until someone is actually chosen then only that one person starts to complain. The towns resignation is showed by old man Warner’s statement. “Old man Warner snorted. ‘pack of crazy fools,’ he said. ‘Listening to the young folks, nothing’s good enough for them. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves.’” (Jackson 268).  This statement show how they all accept the lottery and think nothing is wrong with it.  This quote also shows that the lottery is ingrained into their society and has become exemptible to them as they grow up.  It is very odd at the beginning of the story how the children do not think any thing of it because they are going around and collecting stones.  After a person is chosen the woman’s youngest son it even given a few pebbles to us against his mom.  It is hard to image any place that would not see anything wrong with stoning someone just for tradition.  A lot of people may do some strange things for tradition but killing someone takes it to a whole new level of wearied.

The Glass Menagerie / Tennessee Williams

“In all respects-your eyes – your hair- are pretty!”(Williams 12830). This is a quote from Jim complementing Laura on her appearance.  Laura has gone thought life thinking her disability is worse than it really is.  She is very shy and not very self confident.  Jim points this out in her and tries to cheer her up.  He says many complements to her and tells her to be more self confident.  This does not totally fix her problem but it does show her problem.  It also shows her that some one out side of her family could like her.  One of her glass unicorns gets its horn broken of by Jim. This kind of symbolizes Laura being more normal because it can now more easily fit in with the rest of her glass horses.  This scene is kind of deceiving because it seems like Jim might be the one for Laura but it turns out in the end that he already has a woman he loves.  And in the end of the play Tim also fallows his father’s path and leaves the family after he loses his job. This is disheartening because it seems like it could have a happy ending but then it does not once again like every other work we read.

The Glass Menagerie / Tennessee Williams

“Tom. We are going to have one.

Amanda. What?

Tom. A gentleman caller!” (Williams 1257)

In scene five Tom ask a gentleman to come over to the house to have dinner.  Amanda goes crazy after this and starts asking Tom a lot of questions.  I agree with Tom’s reaction to her question and that they are a little ridiculous. She wants to fix up the whole apartment and clean everything.  This seems a little excessive especially because Tom just asked him to dinner and did not mention his sister. This again reminds me of what m mom does before family or friends arrive.  Amanda seems to go to an even more ridiculous extreme with her preparations. Tom and Amanda again get into a discussion about Laura and her opportunities in life.  Amanda seems more confident in Laura than tom and seems to over exaggerate a lot.  Tom seems to be more realistic about the situation.

The Glass Menagerie / Tennessee Williams

“If you just say you’re sorry she’ll start speaking,” (Williams 1249).  In the fourth scene Tom and Amanda make up after their fight the previous night. In part this is do to Laura urging tom to apologize.  She cares about both of her mom and her brother.  She does not want them continue not speaking.  This shows more of her fragility because Laura feels uncomfortable when Tom and Amanda are at odds. Laura want’s to live in her own little bubble. For this bubble to stay in tacked both her mother and brother need to be in it and on speaking terms.  Tom does say he is sorry in accordance with Laura’s request.  This shows how muck he cares for Laura. Amanda and Tom then have a normal conversation but soon after wards Amanda becomes critical of tom and gain although they don’t blow up again.

The Glass Menagerie / Tennessee Williams

“Amanda.  Don’t you DARE to-

Tom.  No, I won’t hear more, I’m going out!

Amanda.  You come back in-

Tom.  Out, Out, Out! Because I’m-” (Williams 1247).

This quote shows the increasing tension between Amanda and Tom.  Tom is tired of Amanda nagging and correcting him. He decides to go to the movies to get away from Amanda.  Later in the seen Amanda questions weather Tom is actually going to the movies all the time.  This causes him to blow up and starts making extreme examples of were he has been.  He names of about a paragraphs worth of criminal things he could be doing.  At the end of their fight tom leaves and in his frustration breaks part of Laura’s glass menagerie. This shows how their fighting hurt Laura even those she was not involved in the fight.

The Glass Menagerie / Tennessee Williams

“I haven’t enjoyed one bite of this dinner because of your constant directions on how to eat it. It’s you that makes me rush through meals with your hawk-like attention to every bite I take,” (Williams 1237).  This quote helps to characterize both Amanda and Tom.  It shows toms frustration with his life.  It also shows the friction that has developed between Amanda and Tom.  Amanda is a very overbearing character.  She cares a great deal about her kids but does not give them enough personal space.  She seems overbearing and this is shown by his impatiens with her.  It is also shown that she does this continually because Tom mentions that she ruins not just this meal. Tom is either really impatient or Amanda corrects him at every meal.  This reminds me of the times I have been annoyed by my mother nit picking what I am doing.