What would you do....?

That sparkly eye must have been very captivating. If I were the wedding-guest I would’ve probably stayed to listen to him too. His story told things that you’d never see in real life maybe in a dream, but this was the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In reality, I could see as him being a homeless man off the streets and asking for change but instead he asks could he tell you a story. You would look at him and say “Really? No that’s okay.” Soon after he looks at you in the eyes you are taken in and he goes away with telling that story. Something about that is just so weird yet interesting to me. If I had that power I would want to change the way people are. I would want to teach people a lesson and that was a good way to do such.

After reading the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” there are many ways to characterize Coleridge’s interests, ethics, and aesthetics. Coleridge has an interest in nature’s beauty and conserving it. Even things that aren’t beautiful on the outside. After killing the albatross it says “The sun now rose upon the right… went down into the sea.” That suggests that Coleridge thinks that everything has a meaning and purpose on the earth and killing something could possibly affect how things work. The moral of the story can characterize Coleridge’s ethics. The mariner thought the albatross was an awful creature and after killing it he thought it was good. Soon he realized that it was not good. The killing of the albatross made the breeze stop and soon they came to a stop because there was no wind to push them along anymore.  Until things started happening to him and when he realized that horrifying things were beautiful did things start to change for him.

Overall Coleridge wants the lesson from this to be learned that all things have a purpose on the earth and they are beautiful no matter how they look. “He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and smaller; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.” With reference about God, Coleridge seems to have a religious quality in it that God created everything with the purpose of good. Anything he makes it seen in his eyes as beautiful and he doesn’t question his creations.

             He also says at the end that the wedding-guest walked away with greater knowledge. Coleridge wanted his readers to something from this. He wanted people to appreciate all that nature has to offer, because it is a very wide range of things it has for us. We find cures, new species, and new foods all over. Things that might not look appetizing might be the best thing for us when were sick. An animal that might look very frightening might be the nicest, caring animal in the world. We can’t judge things we really know about because our expectations could be the very opposite of reality. 

Is that what I think it is? ....

..... Maybe it is, many books and movies have some type of allusion. One of the most frequently used is the mythological allusion. One thing I remember would be from The Lion King it’s movie that borrows greatly from Oedipus. Although simba himself does not kill his father it’s still a murder within the family that kills Mufasa. When Simba runs away, Scar takes control and runs Pride Rock straight into the ground. This resembles in exactly the same way as the curse of Oedipus family's curse. Scar is very arrogant he does not care and will not accept that it's his fault that everything is falling apart. Simba returns to find his land is ruined by his uncle, and like a young Oedipus solving the puzzle, he reclaims his territory and rebuilds it. Simba thought about killing his uncle Scar but instead it is the Hyenas who get the pleasure to do so. By doing so it gave Simba a chance to have a fresh start. The story features many of the elements of a trip to Hades, especially as it really had a land of the dead. I realized it was an allusion after reading about it and watching it again to understand what could be interpreted by it. It became very easy to understand after I realized its alikeness. The values that allusions have are being able to understand the text and to easily relate it to something else. Something that looks familiar might spark your interest a bit more and you remember it more than something you had no knowledge of it before hand. The text adapted the meaning of the myth to which it alluded by the way the story was plotted. From the beginning where Simba was born and was crowned king to Mufasa’s death there was a reason for all of it and you began to understand after really thinking about it.

         I’ve explained how The Lion King closely resembles allusions of mythology but it also can be related from biblical allusions. One of the Biblical allusions in The Lion King is that the entire movie is an allusion to the story of Moses. Simba and Moses were both princes and were exiled when “accused” of murder. While they were exiled they grew to maturity until told by higher forces to return to their homeland. Finally, they free their people from harshness by Scar/Pharaoh. Since Mufasa represents the God figure in the film, Mufasa lives in the heart of Simba while God lives in the hearts of Christians. Rafiki anoints baby Simba at the beginning of the film like a pastor anoints a baby after being born. As you can see many books can take on multiple allusions depending on what the reader is familiar with. Like I said earlier when you read something such as the Bible perhaps you find that reading other things may have similar plots and ideas. The Lion King just so happens to take on multiple meanings and it helps readers understand. 

Also speaking of which I'm going to see the play next weekend, hope it's just as amazing as last time. 

"Is That a Symbol"

You read over something in a book and you wonder what could this mean? It is more than likely symbolizing something that will be referred to without the book. The smallest object could be the most powerful or important just as a big object. There were many symbols in "The Great Gatsby". One such as the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, they gave a sense that they were looking of the city like the eyes of God. The green light on the edge of Daisy's dock represents Gatsby's hopes and dreams for the future. It seemed so close yet so far. It was also associated with the American dream. Readers can tell when an object in a book symbolizes something. The author will go back and refer to it throughout the book. They can bring back past experiences or foreshadow what is coming.
The title of To Kill a Mockingbird has very little literal connection to the plot, but it carries a great deal of symbolic weight in the book. In this story of innocents destroyed by evil, the “mockingbird” comes to represent the idea of innocence. To kill a mockingbird is to destroy innocence. Throughout the book, a number of characters can be identified as mockingbirds, innocents who have been injured or destroyed through contact with evil. This connection between the novel’s title and its main theme is made explicit several times in the novel: after Tom Robinson is shot, and at the end of the book Scout thinks that hurting Boo Radley would be like “shootin’ a mockingbird.” Miss Maudie explains that’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” As the novel progresses, the children’s changing attitude toward Boo Radley is an important measurement of their change from innocence toward a grown-up moral perspective. Despite the pain that Boo has suffered, the purity of his heart rules his interaction with the children. In saving Jem and Scout from Bob Ewell, Boo proves the ultimate symbol of good.
As for in Romeo and Juliet many symbols of their love are portrayed within the book. Friar Lawrence’s words prove true over the course of the play. The sleeping potion he gives Juliet is concocted to cause the appearance of death, not death itself. Romeo did not know that she wasn't dead and did not want to live without her he took the potion committing suicide. As this example shows, human beings tend to cause death even without intending to. Poison symbolizes human society’s tendency to poison good things and make them fatal. After all, unlike many of the other tragedies, this play does not have an evil villain, but rather people whose good qualities are turned to poison by the world in which they live. Another symbol, Samson begins a brawl between the Montagues and Capulets by flicking his thumbnail from behind his upper teeth. Meaning he wants to fight but doesn’t want to be accused of starting the fight. The thumb biting, as an essentially meaningless gesture, represents the foolishness of the entire Capulet/Montague feud and the stupidity of violence in general.
The more we read the more we'l be able to scout out those symbols within literature.

"It's More Than Just Rain or Snow"

You're reading a book and all of a sudden it starts pouring down raining or snowing like a blizzard. Weather in literature will more than likely mean more than rain or snow itself. Well what does it mean you might ask. Weather symbolizes emotions and foreshadows events in literature. Rain can mean some type of physical or mental cleanse in one or more of the characters. As well as it is restorative bringing two people together just as in romantic stories, such as "The Great Gatsby". Daisy and Gatsby reunite on a rainy afternoon. Once things get a little less awkward they start talking and their love reawakens just as the sun starts to come out. As well in the romantic novel and film The Notebook after years of being on and off the couple reunite in the rain. They realized that they were meant to be together and they continue their life until they grow old and die around the same time. While rain means one thing thunder foreshadows bad events. In the novel/movie Holes the Yelnats family has been cursed, with bad luck, and the son Stanley Yelnats is sent to a Camp Green Lake. It never rains at this correctional facility and hasn't for a hundred years. Each day the boys going into the dried up lake bed to dig holes to gain character. Stanley and his friend, Zero, find the treasure one hundred years after the day the Yelnats family had been cursed and the father of Stanley also find a cure to prevent foot odor. Lastly, it begins to rain. The drought seems like an insignificant detail, but it alludes to the fact that the curse was also preventing the rain. 

Weather is a major factor when it comes to the attitudes of people as well. In "The Great Gatsby" Gatsby and Tom have their confrontation on the hottest day of the summer. Summer equals anger and tension in which those were at an all time high. Wilson kills Gatsby on the first day of autumn; he floats in the pool despite the chill in the air. Symbolized the attempt to stop time and restore his relationship with daisy.

In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, young Lucy Pevensie becomes the first character to discover the magical world of Narnia by crawling through a wardrobe. When she reaches the land, snow covers the terrain. Now, Narnia is huge. The landscape varies: covered in snow, forest, and fields. Snow invokes feelings of fascination and wonder, which Lucy feels as she travels through her new discovery. A landscape coated with snow seems new and quite different from the original landscape. Similarly, Narnia is a new and fresh landscape to Miss Pevensie. On the other hand, snow can be cold and dangerous. When the White Witch is introduced to the reader, she is coated in white furs and pulled by polar bears. Lewis clearly wanted to associate her with snow as well. The White Witch, is not fresh and quiet, but is instead icy and cruel. As much fun as snow can provide, we often forget how we would die if left alone in it. Snow can be unforgiving, just like the White Witch that tempts Lucy's brother Edmond.

Weather sets the story up, it helps get out the main purpose. It is really necessary to have different aspects of weather to develop a wonderful peace of literature.

"It's Never Just Heart Disease . . ."

Heart Disease is never really just "Heart Disease". Well what is it really? It symbolizes very important aspects of pieces of literature. Heart disease can symbolize bad love, loneliness, cruelty, disloyalty, cowardice, and lack of determination. Heart disease in literature is both a symbol and an actual thing. Authors use it because everyone can relate. We know when we are in love, when we get heartbroken. You feel the happiness in your heart. You can also feel that pain in your chest. You can feel that loneliness. Authors use this simple idea because that is one thing that separates us. That is one aspect that makes us human. The physical pain is a representation of the emotional struggle. It shows that the emotions felt by the characters were as strong and painful as if they were physical. Although it can be shown in different ways, heart disease should be associated with the intangible heart.
 "The Story of an Hour" where the woman is given the news that her husband has been killed in a train accident. She locks herself in her room and finds that she sees the world in a whole new light, she can almost taste freedom. At the end, her husband walks in and she dies on the spot of "a joy that killed." In reality, having freedom so unexpectedly thrust upon her and then yanked away again is what killed her.  It can be a vital part of understanding the true meaning of the novel. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, Ms. Dubose is ill and became an addict of the morphine she was taking. She is slowly deteriorating and she is well aware of it. The little boy neighbor Jem ruined her flowers and as a punishment he had to read to her. By reading to her, she did not think about her morphine, and slowly but surely she broke her habit. Everyday Jem read less and less to her, where eventually he stopped reading to her entirely. Shortly after, Ms. Dubose died from her agonizing sickness. Her sickness was a slow process. That’s significant in that it symbolizes the long pain-staking process it took for her to break her morphine addiction. Upon her death, Jem took great insight. He realized how courageous she was in starting a new goal even though she knew she was going to die. She wanted to end the addiction and cut it off at the roots before she left. Jem realized that the racism-taking place in the community had to be cut off at the roots or it would never end. Ms. Dubose meaningful illness and death developed Jem into a wiser and more understanding young man. He understands what courage is, and accepts his father's decision to help Tom. Lastly, from the book “Freak the Mighty” Kevin and Max become friends, soon closer than ever. They do everything together. One this is Max did not know that Kevin also known as Freak was dying of a disease causing his heart to grow abnormally. Before freak passed away he gave max a book to write their story. Once he passed away max goes into isolation and stops going to school. After a little motivation he begins writing the book of “Freak the Mighty” Not all heart diseases come with bad outcomes. Max realized he could have a friend and he wasn’t stupid like everyone was calling him. He now had a purpose. Symbolizing the growth of a friendship and a person.