Reflection

Over the past few weeks, I have had a really difficult time reading all of the texts assigned for this course.  Sometimes, I had a really hard time relating to it or understanding it without the help of the trusty internet.  However, I feel that I have definitely come to a greater appreciation of British Literature through this course.  My favorite authors included Joyce and Dickens.  My favorite piece was "The Dead" by James Joyce.  I liked how he was able to concisely tell a whole story and make such a huge statement about how many people live their lives blindly and without passion.  As much as I gained from this course, I am happy to be finished so I can focus more time on exploring Korea!

Mrs. Dalloway

Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway deals with issues relating to isolation and connection.  Clarissa is an upper class woman, but feels isolated from those closest to her, including her husband.  On one hand, she desires privacy, but at the same she wishes that she could be more connected in her relationships.  Septimus, who is considered insane, has completely shut off from the world and is unable to enjoy his wife or any earthly pleasures.  He lives in a state of guilt within his own mind.

While my situation in Korea is not near that extreme, there are some similarities.  It is odd to walk around without understanding anything.  I am completely oblivious to conversations around me, or even about me.  Due to the language barrier, I have very little meaningful interaction with anyone.  It's strange to walk down the street, and not be able to read any signs because I don't know the language.  While I complained about the month long orientation I had to endure, in the end, I am thankful for it because it has provided me with relationships that can support me.  Like in Mrs. Dalloway, we must be connected to others to truly live.

The Dead

"The Dead" by James Joyce comes from the Dubliners collection.  It tells the story of Gabriel, who attends a dinner party with his wife and later that night realizes that she as a girl, she was involved with a young man who essentially died for her because he loved her so much.  I found this story to be great because the protagonist is finally shaken out of his stupor of just ambling through life.  He realizes what passion is, and moreover, that someone felt passion towards his own wife, whom he has taken for granted.  For Gabriel, his epiphany required a revelation from his wife about her past, the reader can take note of Gabriel's situation, and actually start living.

Great Expectations

    I think we all have some experience similar to Pip where we build up something in our minds, only to realize that this one thing will not make everything perfect. Pip thought that everything would be set right once he was a "gentleman" and could finally win Estella's heart.  To his surprise, not only was Estella not impressed by his new status in life, but it turned out that she was from humble beginnings as well.  Pip aspired to be of great social status, only to realize that once he achieved that, happiness did not pursue.
     Alternatively, I have sort of dreaded something for a long time - coming to Korea.  I thought I would be miserable and lonely, but it is actually pretty great.  The actual value of an occurrence is irrelevant, your perception is based entirely on your expectations.

Say Over Again

"Say Over Again" - Elizabeth Browning

Say over again, and yet once over again,

That thou dost love me,

Though the word repeated

Should seem a "cuckoo-song," as dost treat it,

Remember, never to the hill or plain,

Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain

Comes the fresh Spring in all her green completed.

Beloved, I, amid the darkness greeted

By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt's pain

Cry, "Speak once more--thou lovest!" Who can fear

Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll,

Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year?

Say thou dost love me, love me, love me--toll

The silver iterance!--only minding, Dear,

To love me also in silence with thy soul.



I get it.  If I understand anything about Elizabeth Browning, it's that she wants to hear sweet things.  I think that she means more when she says that she wants her partner to "say" how much he loves her.  She wants to see his love demonstrated in his actions, his words, and even his silences.  Like I said, I get it.  Being a million (give or take) miles from home and with Valentine's Day coming up, I can't get enough sweet things.

Frankenstein

My favorite part of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was when the "monster" described his isolated development of using his senses and learning to communicate.  From my very limited knowledge of the story before reading it, I had always thought that (1) Frankenstein was the name of the monster and (2) the monster communicated through grunts and was not very intelligent.

Imagine my surprise when Frankenstein's dialogue is more eloquent that my own speech!  Although fictional, Shelley aptly described a child's process in learning speech through Frankenstein's creation's experience.

"By degrees I made a discovery of still greater moment. I found that these people possessed a method of communicating their experience and feelings to one another by articulate sounds. I perceived that the words they spoke sometimes produced pleasure or pain, smiles or sadness, in the minds and countenances of the hearers. This was indeed a godlike science, and I ardently desired to become acquainted with it."

Like the creation, children desperately want to be part of the talking, adult world.  This is why they communicate with coos as infants and later form singular words and still later, two word sentences.  Also, the creation does not learn to speak until he spends most of his time observing the cottagers. Like a child, he would never learn to speak in isolation, but instead must be exposed to speaking adults.

Shelly also described Frankenstein's creations and his first days of being overwhelmed by his own senses.

"A strange multiplicity of sensations seized me, and I saw, felt, heard, and smelt, at the same time; and it was, indeed, a long time before I learned to distinguish between the operations of my various senses."

As infants, children sight is limited to only a couple feet directly in front of them - just the right amount to perceive a parent's face when being held.  However, Frankenstein's creation was overwhelmed by all of his senses at once and since Frankenstein abandoned him, he was left to make sense of it on his own.

"She Walks In Beauty"

She Walks in Beauty
BY LORD BYRON

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Swoon. "The smiles that win." I definitely wouldn't hate it if someone were to write a similar poem about me.

My favorite thing about this poem, however, is part of an analysis I read online, "It is an astonishingly chaste poem given its author’s reputation for licentiousness, lust, and debauchery." We praise and celebrate his poetry even today, but Lord Byron was kind of a bad dude. Affairs and scandals haunted his life including adultery, violence, and incest. My point is that celebrity worship is not new. The rich and famous can get away with all sorts of things (Biebs - I'm looking at you), and they always have.