Miniver Cheevy

This poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson could be seen as an attack upon the "dreamers" of society vs. the livers. Mr. Cheevy has made the choice to live his life wishing he was part of an age that is no more; one which is glorified through fictitious myths and stories. These stories, in Mr. Cheevy's case, are many of the reasons which are cited for why he should live in these times. So basically, his life is being wasted away drinking alcohol wishing he lived in a time that nobody is sure even existed.

Richard Cory

Edwin Arlington Robinson's poem is a perfect example of the well-known theme that money does not buy happiness. It can also be connected with the theme of society's perfect vs. the individual's perfect. All the townspeople want to be Richard Cory because he is societal perfection epitomized; however, this perfection obtained can only bring sadness as those "perfect" people realize how empty this life is. Those people who are struggling and fighting to survive in society who are viewed as unfortunate can be seen as naive or happy. Naive if they want what Richard Cory had, or happy because they are pursuing authentic lives.

The Unknown Citizen

This poem by W.H. Auden exemplifies a theme that has already been portrayed by two texts so far in class. The first being "A Clean Well-Lighted Place," by Ernest Hemingway, and the second is Leo Tolstoy's "The Death of Ivan Ilych." However, as opposed to the direct confrontation with the theme in the other two texts, the poet in this texts fervently supports this man's doing, and his perfect role in society. The poem intends to leave the reader with a little pit in his or her stomach saying that "this perfect life being lived does not sound so perfect now that it is being described in all its glory." In no way does the poem ever directly say it to the reader, but this society dominated life shines negatively in the reader's eyes as the poem provides the outside view of a societally perfect life with the hope that the reader will abandon his or her attempts to achieve such a life. The rhyme scheme can be seen as an undertone to this theme as it is disorderly and abrupt with only a few rhymes. It gives the reader the feeling that something is "not quite right."

Let me not to the marriage of true minds (Sonnet 116)

This sonnet is Shakespeare's definition of love. Loves definition, according to Shakespeare, contains such a love that is everlasting, untempered, unyielding, and true. Love must be shared between two people who admit their problems openly and these "impediments" must be accepted by both parties and whether the traits are virtuous or not, they must not hurt the love shared. The Shakespearean-form sonnet is a heartfelt and romantic expression of love with the credibility of Shakespeare's writing thrown on the table to defend its description. He knows how good he is and uses his reputation to defend his point.

The Flea

John Donne's poem takes a intellectual approach towards the sanctity of maidenhood. The poem can be visualized as a man and a woman sitting in a room in which a flea bites first the man, then the woman, and just as she moves to kill it, the poet speaks. It can be seen as a poem of seduction, an attack at religious hypocrisy or both. The man's reasoning is that the blood shared inside of the flea has no effect on the woman's innocence, so why should they hold back from anything else. By the imagery of blood being shared, they have already become "more than married." Her attempts to kill the flea are explained as an even worse sin because she would be taking three lives so she might as well submit to him if she is going to commit such a mortal sin anyway. The rhyme scheme groups ideas into two rhyming couplets and one triplet for each of the three stanzas.

Respice Finem

Respice Finem means "Look to the End." Ivan had this saying engraved on a pendant that he wore along with the other "fashionable" apparel he bought after getting a law job. The irony in this is that Ivan never looked toward the end and realizes that only when faced with death. He was caught up in the selfish pursuance of his career and any other superficial, worldly pleasures available. He neglects the fact that he will one day die and therefore lives a shallow life with little care for anybody but himself. He never suspected his health would someday fail and he would need people who cared about him to be there for him.

Ivan Ilych's Simple, Ordinary Life

"Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible."

This quote portrays the most important theme in this story. All of Ivan's mental and emotional sufferings are direct products of this theme in his life. His proper pursuit of what is proper in society leaves him empty, friendless, and with no satisfaction in life. He climbed his career ladder successfully, provided for a family that society thought was the best for him, and died in a nice house with nice things in it. The main point of the narrator here is that society does not know what is best for you or what makes you happy, and it does do not care. The high class people Ivan surrounded himself with in order to advance in society were only hanging around with him in order to advance themselves.

Unreliable Narration: "The Yellow Wallpaper"

An unreliable narrator in a story is a narrator whose perception and views are jaded by an outlying disturbance; insanity in the case of "The Yellow Wallpaper." However, more information can be shared by an unreliable narrator than a more conventional narrative voice in some cases. For example, in "The Yellow Wallpaper,"a third person narrator would most likely neglect the reasoning behind the protagonists decent into insanity, and would fail to correctly note the feelings that motivated her peculiar actions. The unreliable narrator in the story, despite disorienting the reader at times, traces a clearer, more thought-provoking path than would a third-person omniscient narrator.A third-person omniscient narrator would more than likely dismiss her madness as an incurable degenerative disease as opposed to the fact that it was her treatment instead that was the culprit in her demise.

"The Yellow Wallpaper"

This story depicts the degeneration of a depressed/anxious woman in to total insanity told in her perspective. Forced to move to an isolated mansion for the summer by her husband in order to treat her anxiety, she is told not to work or to have any tiring interaction with anybody. The story is told through a series of journal entries throughout the summer months; a journal which she is keeping in secret. The first person point of view contributes a lot to this story because it provides a somewhat coherent path toward insanity for the protagonist. The antagonist in this story is, in fact, the yellow wallpaper which, though inanimate at first, comes to life for the author by the end of the story and actually fuses with the protagonist. The story, had it been written in third person, would have lost the effect of connecting the reader with the author. A reader of this story written in the third person would have immediately seen the insanity the woman was portraying early on. In the first person, the reader is able to see how insanity really comes to be: the person becoming insane always thinks they are doing the sane thing with their actions. The author provides justification for each of the queer actions and insights she shares about the yellow wallpaper and, under the isolation of not being able to work, write, or visit, begins to believe more and more illogical hypotheses. This story is meant to be a sort-of outcry against the treatment for anxiety most physicians rendered during this time. Isolated from work and all normal activities, the treatment is actually the cause for the woman's descent into insanity.

"The Chrysanthemums"

The chrysanthemums that Elisa so skillfully and powerfully tends to in the beginning of the story serve as an outline to the story's ultimate theme: the limitations of the female existence. Elisa puts up a tough, masculine appearance and throughout the story shows a growing seed of confidence that could be represented directly with the chrysanthemums. The flowers grew to enormous sizes as did her confidence grow in herself with the skillful tending she exhibited on her garden. Elisa is not happy with her marriage because the her life is restricted by Henry's presence and it fences off any chance of her escaping into the world and accepting its challenge. When the repairman comes down the road and speaks with Elisa, she at first puts up a tough and unyielding wall to protect herself from being taken advantage of. However, as soon as the man compliments her garden, all her defenses drop and leave her exposed to being fooled by the crafty traveler. He toys with her and manipulates her with guilt and promised satisfaction: two things that would not have mattered before her weakness was attacked. She ends up giving him money to fix some perfectly good dishes and then falls for the man's story that a woman down the road would love some of her beautiful chrysanthemums. She eagerly places the flowers in a nice red flowerpot and gives detailed instructions for care that the man probably ignores, as his true intention is to keep only the pot: a fact that Elisa discovers toward the end of the story. She does not know this, however, and cleans herself up and dresses very femininely to go out with her husband, full of pride that she was able to fulfill herself and another woman with her exchange and helping of the repairman. Though forced to uphold a male appearance before in order to look strong, she now abandons this cover and embraces the new and fresh powerful-woman countenance. Even when she asks Henry about what he thinks of her, he answers to appease her (as he wanted to tell her what he thought she wanted to hear) that she appears strong like a man, and she discards the answer bitterly because she is trying to express the equality of femininity to masculinity. Sadly, her dreams are cut short as she discovers the contents of her pot a little ways down the road and all of her confidence is cut out beneath her as she falls into the realization that her female vulnerability had been taken advantage of. She then is forced to retreat back into the male identity and even considers going to watch "the fights" to appear tough again but surrenders that idea quickly as she finally accepts "her place" in society as a second-class citizen; a female. The chrysanthemums and her can be directly related in this story. Elisa lives in the "closed pot" of the Salinas valley as do the chrysanthemums live a restricting life in a pot. They are both forced to stay where they are and can only portray beauty in order to get attention as the delicacy of their own genotype does not allow them to survive in the harsh world. It could even be said that the care Elisa describes to the repairman is directly related to Elisa's life. The portion in which she describes cutting the stem before it buds so that it may bud more beautifully later can be compared to Elisa's marriage. She could have grown up one certain way but society's cutting of her freedom by imposing marriage as the better thing to do only make her more beautiful by the male-dominated scope of society during this time.