Crime and Punishment-PowerPoint

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The Mystery of the Caves

          Throughout the poem “The Mystery of the Caves” by Michael Waters, there is a direct parallel between the imagery created of a male hero entering a mysterious cave and the narrator’s “domestic situation.” Waters utilizes the many aspects of being lost, such as being scared, or confused and also hope however small it may be, to compare with the narrator’s dilemma.

            A boy lost in a dark cavern symbolizes the narrator’s own confusion in trying to deal with his own personal predicament. Just as “the boy found it impossible to see/ which passage led to safety” the narrator does not know what to do in his situation. No matter what the narrator does, it does not provide closure for him and he is scared of the many outcomes that might occur. As a result, he becomes completely encumbered with fear similar to a child “hero” in an unknown cave with many dark paths.

            In almost every situation there is always a glimmer of hope and for the narrator that was symbolized with the “one yellow finger of flame.” The flame provides a type of light and warmth however it is small. The flame “wavered on his last match” and the boy tries to keep it going. This can symbolize the narrator trying to keep “sane” despite his parents’ constant arguing. He is trying to hold on to this small “flame” of sanity so that he will not become what his parents are. That is his hope that he is trying to hold onto.

            In the end the narrator worries that his childhood problems and fears will surface once again. He hears his childhood self who had suffered through his parent’s constant fighting. However, he knows that it is all over with he had survived and his hopes prevailed. He escaped the mysterious caves.

existentialism

            To me the whole idea of existentialism is a tricky situation. There are some portions in which I believe in, well kind of actually I am not 100% on any one thing, and there are other things that I completely just shut down, I do not believe in them and I find them to be absurd. I want to really talk more about the existential beliefs that I found to be interested in and well these are the ones that I lean a little bit more towards. I did a quick Google search of what existentialism is all about and came across this philosophy website, http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/existentialism.htm.

“There are things that are not rational” and “decisions are not without stress and consequences”. These are two of the concepts that existentialism takes into consideration. These concepts (the use of the word ‘concept’ rather than ‘belief’ is much more suiting but that is beside the point) are ones that I found to be truly and almost completely true. I would not, however, consider myself and existentialist. The second one, “decisions are not without stress and consequences” holds true in many cases, it is similar to one of the Newtonian Laws, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Whenever you do something there will always be some form of consequence, now consequence has such a negative connotation but it can be either good or bad depending on the decision and well stress is always and forever present, nothing is really stress-free.

The first concept, “There are things that are not rational” just completely amazes me because here they are literally just saying that there are some things that just cannot be explained so do not try to explain it. It just points out all of the ambiguous cases and says that they are supposed to be there. In other words, they answered a question that supposedly had no answers.

An Echo Sonnet: To an Empty Page

To an Empty Page a sonnet written by Robert Peck employs many literary techniques however the most prominent ones are the use of rhetorical questions and repetition of sound and diction through the echo. Peck uses these literary techniques to emphasize the Loneliness felt by the narrator. In fact the title itself, To an Empty Page, suggests that one is all alone in this poem.

The voice, or the main portion of the poem, encapsulates the speaker’s misery in a series of rhetorical questions. The purpose of that is to show the reader the pain and the hopelessness that the narrator is feeling.  The very act of asking rhetorical questions shows that the narrator is not expecting a response from anyone. However, at the end of each line, there is an echo that either repeats the very last word that was said or uses another word that is similar to how the last syllable in the last word sounded. The echo acts as a response to the question that the voice proposes. The fact that the echo is responding to the rhetorical question of the voice proves the loneliness of the narrator because the echo is actually just the voice itself. In other words, there is only one person speaking. The narrator is not expecting a response but when he does he starts to have a conversation with himself.

The use of these literary techniques enhanced the emotions felt by the narrator. They brought the emotions to life and allowed the reader to be absorbed into this bleak mindset of life. A depressing mood of loneliness was set originally however it showed the beauty of talking to oneself; that one must really come to grips with their own reality by themselves.

Sonnet 130

Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare is one of his more peculiar sonnets. Not only does he stray from the usual sonnet style of over-praising someone but he uses the widely known literary device of simile in a completely different manner. Shakespeare does this in a way that, at first, seems to insult women however his twist on the use of similes is a way to see women for what they truly are.

 Many poets use such a literary device to portray things in a more positive manner, such as “her eyes glittered like the shining star in the night sky” which over-exaggerates the features of a girl. One’s eyes cannot really glitter, that is only possible in a person’s relative perspective. Shakespeare looks at women in a more realistic view. He uses similes to describe a woman’s natural beauty not some falsified over-exaggerated “goddess” of a woman that no real women can compare.

He ends the sonnet with the couplet, “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/   As any she belied with false compare.” Here he is comparing his love for this woman in her natural state to the “love” others feel towards women who are over-exemplified. The simile in this couplet is to show that women are beautiful just the way they are naturally and do not need to change themselves nor do they have to be compared to false deities to be loved.

Sonnet 39

The world is a difficult place to live in and sometimes it is too much to bear all together. Therefore, something is required to help ease the pains of living and that is where sleep is essential. Sleep is essential to a person’s life; not only does it enhance life it promotes good health. It brings ideas, sometimes two completely different ideas, together and sometimes interjects its own illusion to put in place a façade showing one’s life better than it really is. It also helps to alleviate the stress the world can place on one’s shoulders. That is the beauty of sleep that this poem captivates.

 Sleep allows for one’s imagination to roam free and allow one to conjure up ideas unlike those seen elsewhere.       Sleeping opens up the human mind to many possibilities. It is the time when the human mind truly roams free. Humans are free of all distractions and are able to these ideas during sleep. Some of the best people of the world use sleep to obtain their ideas that help benefit the world today. Studies show that a half hour nap allows the mind to perceive greater inspirations. This shows that while sleeping the mind is still being stimulated rather than shutting down like many people like to believe, which means that humans think more while sleeping than while awake.

 Sleep is an escape from reality, i.e. poor man’s wealth, prisoner’s release. It is the place where what you really have does not matter. Within a deep slumber, dreams take over and one’s ambitions take control of the dream world. Their dream world can then consist of whatever they want.  They could become the king of the world, they can have whatever they wanted to eat or they could literally have whatever they wanted. This world allows people to escape the harshness of the real world, which is necessary at times in order to live because sometimes a little bit of ambition is required rather than the cold harsh reality.

 Sleep relieves people of stress. The body gets worn down throughout the day and as one’s energy decreases, stress levels increase due to the lack of energy, which is not good for the body. Sleep allows for the body to shut down and recharge, mentally and physically. As aforementioned, it allows the mind to escape from reality which eases the mind from straining. Thoughts while sleeping are perceived in a more calming manner rather than the usual harsh, forced thought. No one wants to be stressed out or exhausted, therefore sleep is a necessity of life that one cannot do without.

According to the dictionary, beauty is something that is the combination of the qualities that are pleasing and impressive to perceive. The very fact that sleep can transport you into another world controlled entirely by your mind is something that is truly impressive. What one then dreams of during such a sleep can be quite pleasing if one so wishes. To go even further, sleep can even relieve the stress from despair and weary days. In conclusion, it is safe to say that Sonnet 39 by Sir Edward Sidney did an excellent job in portraying the beauty of sleep.

Crime and Punishment -- Revised Essay

Everyone allows their personal desires to get the best of them. Humans are selfish by nature. This is prominent in the novel Crime and Punishment. The main character, Ras, allows his inner most desires to control his actions. He does not stop to think about how it could affect other or even himself. In reality, his actions affect himself the most in a negative way rather than the positive way that he had hoped it would. This goes to show that humans act upon impulse based on their desires to get what they want.

            Money is a huge driving factor for everyone especially for those who do not have money such as Ras, in Crime and Punishment. However, it just pushes people like Ras to act on their impulses to get something they desire. At the start of the novel he is described as wearing tattered clothing and rags, things such that the poor would wear. In actuality, Ras is poor which is why it is not a big deal that he is wearing such clothing however he is in dire need of money so he pawns off some of his trinkets to a pawnshop. Pawning off goods is not such a bad deed-- even though his responsibilities are to work and earn an honest living-- especially if it is compared to what he starts to contemplate doing, which is murder. His one desire that is prominent in the beginning of the novel is to murder the Pawnshop lady and take her goods however it was not all about money. He hated the lady with a burning passion and learns that others do too. It takes several of chapters until he settles this internal conflict of whether or not he should kill her but he finally follows his personal desires and kills the lady. Once she is dead he rummages through her belongings and snatches some money and some trinkets. However he had left the door opened and the Pawnshop lady’s sister entered and he slaughtered her just as mercilessly. He had allowed his yearnings of committing a crime to easily obtain money get the best of him and murdered two people.

            After committing such a crime, Ras starts to feel horrible about it that he sleeps fitfully for several of nights. It would be morally correct to attempt to correct such a horrid mistake by confessing your sins or crimes to the proper authority however his fear prevented him from doing so. With his fear not allowing him to come clean, his conscience constantly attacks his mind, weakening it causing him to go mad in the eyes of some. That is what the conscience is for to remind you constantly that you have done something wrong. It is your moral obligation to listen to your conscience and right a wrong you have done. However, Ras was too preoccupied with trying to protect himself from punishment to obey his conscience.

            Many things have happened as Ras tries to fight with his conscience and one of them is that his mother announced that his sister, Dun, is getting married to a government worker named, Luz. Normally, if one hears that their sister is getting married one is usually excited and tries to like whomever their sister is marrying. For Ras, that was not the case. Due to his hatred of Luz after their confrontation in the Café which almost caused Ras to confess his murder and his love for his sister, or at least his attempt to show such love, he tries to break off their marriage. He is successful in breaking off the marriage however it was not the right thing to do because Ras had his own ulterior motives for the break-up. He acted in a way to rid himself of any threats and since his meeting with Luz at the Café, he saw him as an active threat.

            Why do humans act upon impulse like Ras has done? It is quite simple. Due to the fact that something such as “impulse” is the most primal of all instincts that humans have not lost, humans act upon such an instinct to protect themselves and obtain their raw desires. One can classify the actions taken by Ras to be savagely and selfish but one must also understand that he is human and humans are still animals. They will continually try to get whatever they want without yet thinking about the consequences.