Ezra Pound- A Contradiction Justified

Ezra pound’s controversial life (1885-1972) saw him going from an ‘imagist’ perspective to that of ‘vorticism.’ His manifesto is important in evaluating his work as it shows a change in poetic literature that stays relevant to his later works even if they don’t comply with the original guidelines of the manifesto. In the following analysis of Pound’s manifesto and his work, I will explain how his manifesto remained important to poetry and Pound himself.

Ezra Pound

     His early theory of the imagist structure was formed at the turn of the twentieth century. “An ‘image’ is that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time” (Loeffelholz 1506). The best example of Pound’s imagist poems I feel is ‘In a Station of the Metro.’ Here, Pound wishes to translate his perception of beauty in the midst of ugliness into a single image in written form. He does this by linking two metaphors together. The first one: “The apparition of these faces in the crowd” (1482), I feel is the transformation of these faces to something beautiful that mean something instead of just passing obscured objects in a crowded dirty subway. The “[p]etals on a wet, black bough” (1482) seem to represent the beauty of life shining through the dank underground. To me the faces symbolize a purpose and a radiance that is life. They are in the subway now but they are travelling towards something wonderful.

     Many twentieth century poets were influenced by imagism but the fact that even the rules of grammar seemed artificial made this new poetry work in disconnected fragments (1478). Pounds early advice was hard to follow telling readers to “[u]se no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something” (1507). More modern poets may argue that adjectives make poems more enjoyable to read. Pound eventually moved from the bland form of imagism to vorticism which “still espousing direct and bare presentation, sought for some principle of dynamism and energy in the image” (1478). One such poem is ‘Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (Life and Contacts)’ (1484). Pound’s vorticist poems seem to be longer and also seem to have more dynamism and energy: “Quick eyes gone under earth’s lid” (1487). This is very descriptive of a person that died highlighting the person’s energetic clever personality ‘Quick eyes’ now gone beneath the earth’s surface. I like how ‘lid’ is used to describe the passing of life to death as if the earth is closing those eyelids.

Pound giving the fascist salute

     Pound found himself propagandizing against the poetry that made him initially want to be a poet (1477). However he was proud of all his work seeing his old work as an inspiration for new forms of poetry to take hold and seeing his new work as another essential change: “on the one hand, a desire to ‘make it new’; on the other, a deep attachment to the old” (1477). Even through his contrasting perspectives Pound remained controversial throughout his work with his rebellious and colourful personality shocking his audience. He also remained convinced that the United States had no place for him and regarded it as a culturally backward nation.

     Even though Pounds manifesto is outdated even to himself in his later years, it still has relevance in how it brought about change in poetic styles. His amazing ability to downgrade old poems along with those of contemporary poets at the same time annoyed people but they listened nevertheless: “The actual language and phrasing is often as bad as that of our elders without even the excuse that the words are shovelled in to fill a metric pattern or to complete the noise of a rhyme-sound” (1506). At times he referred to certain poets describing works as being “as stale and hackneyed as any pseudo-Swinburnian” (1506). He is talking about Algernon Swinburne (1837-1909) who would have been famous before poetic styles such as imagism and vorticism began to emerge. I think I see what Pound is talking about when I looked at ‘A Ballad of Burdens’ by Algernon Swinburne. In the third line of the third verse he writes “that buy thy white and brown” (Swinburne 6). I feel this has no other purpose than to just rhyme with ‘down’ in the first line. This may have inspired young poets to think more carefully of what they are writing.

     I feel that the majority of Pounds work does not exemplify what he wrote in his manifesto as he changed his perspective from imagism to vorticism. However he was part of a movement at the time his manifesto was published where literature was changing and this may have influenced his opinion. He is open minded knowing that change will always happen and his manifesto may even be subject to change: “All this, however, some may consider open to debate” (Loeffelholz 1507). I think he feels change is good introducing new styles of literature and I think he sees his manifesto as a stepping stone to a transformation of literature which is set to become more complex and diverse than ever before: “But it is, on the whole, good that the field should be ploughed. Perhaps a few good poems have come from the new method, and if so it is justified” (1506).

     In conclusion I think Ezra Pound was looking at the big picture in literature. He saw there was more to literature than the current styles and I feel his manifesto was an early attempt to bring about changes and introduce new styles. It was the idea of change behind his manifesto that made it a great influence at the time and it can still be credited for sparking new styles like that of vorticism which Pound himself took up later on. Pounds controversial life and rebellious attitude saw him bring about change beyond his manifesto and beyond literature but in society itself. When he won the Bollingen Prize for poetry, a tremendous debate commenced on his stature as a poet as well as a citizen. A committee of writers won his release ten years later. He was a patient and prisoner in St. Elizabeth’s hospital for the criminally insane in Washington, D.C. for his involvement with the Italian government broadcasting English-language radio to England and the United States during World War II in which he vilified Jews, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and American society in general. His release can be seen as a step forward for liberty and freedom of speech.

Works Cited

Loeffelholz, Mary. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 7th. D. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. 1477-1507. Print.

Swinburne, Algernon. Algernon Charles Swinburne. PoemHunter.com-The Worlds Poetry Archive, 2004. 6. eBook.

Hills Like White Elephants

Ernest Hemingway is noted as one of the greatest American writers in literature with his original writing style that is unique in its concise intelligent form. Hemingway felt that the reader should be using their imagination when engaged in a text and that they should be able to decipher their own meanings within the words. He felt that the less you give them the more exciting it is for them when they find symbols and hidden messages in the text. He gives the reader basic information from which they can base their own ideas of what the story is about. This method is favored by many readers as they feel more involved in the story. Hemingway uses the iceberg theory to achieve his compressed writing style and his work has been recognized worldwide since. I will look at ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ in my analysis of Hemingway’s writing style and how he incorporates the iceberg theory into his work.

Ernest Hemingway

     Hemingway used the iceberg strategy to allow him to eliminate unnecessary information that could be guessed by the reader without the need for words. He developed “a prose style built from what was left after eliminating all the words one could ‘not stand to hear.’” (Hemingway 1981) In doing this he used dialogue a lot to direct the narration of the story. Through the characters seemingly normal conversation there is rich symbolism hidden within the select few words intelligently chosen by Hemingway: “[t]here is seven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it strengthens your iceberg” (Hemingway 538). This method creates a more concise story with quality rather than quantity as Hemingway says a lot in just a few words. These words contain a lot of symbolism as well as what is not included by the author: “It is the part that doesn’t show” (538). This is evident in ‘Hills Like White Elephants’ as Hemingway leaves out the information that it is an abortion the man and the girl are discussing referring to it as “an awfully simple operation” (540). There are many clues in the text that hint to the fact that the story is mainly concerned with abortion. Everything tastes sweet like licorice to the girl suggesting her pregnancy. Even the beer tastes sweet: “Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe” (540).

     Although abortion is not mentioned in the text we know it is what the conversation is based on through Hemingway’s use of two literary elements in his application of his iceberg theory which are setting and symbolism (“machete what we’re thinking… ”). The setting is very important as it sets a foreboding atmosphere that allows us to decipher what the girl is thinking. Her observation of “[t]he fields of grain and trees represent fertility and fruitfulness, which symbolize her current pregnant state and the life in her womb” (“machete what we’re thinking… ”) but as she “looked across at the hills on the dry side of the valley” (Hemingway 542), it seems she is looking at what life would be like if she went ahead with the abortion. The land is “barren and sterile, symbolizing her body after the abortion” (“machete what we’re thinking… ”).

     The girl observes that the hills look like white elephants. The symbolism here suggests that she is thinking of her unborn child: “[a]s she observes the white hills she foresees elatedly the birth of her baby – something unique like the uncommon white elephant. The color white symbolizes the innocence and purity of her unborn child” (“machete what we’re thinking… ”). White elephants were considered sacred in Buddhist tradition and so they were seen as both a blessing and a curse if you owned one. The reason being that these animals were said to bring good luck in the long run but as they were sacred they could not be used for labor and were extremely expensive to maintain. This is why the girl is so indecisive about the operation to get an abortion. She sees her unborn child as sacred but feels if she has the child she would sacrifice everything her and her partner had together: “[a]nd if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?” (Hemingway 541).

     Hemingway’s use of dialogue to tell the majority of his stories is an effective aspect of his iceberg theory: “‘We want two Anis del Toro.’ ‘With water?’ ‘Do you want it with water?’” (540). Even though it doesn’t specifically state who said what we can easily make out what characters are speaking and this helps to eliminate words which “strengthens your iceberg” (538). The conversations become more fluid in the text and it’s easier to become immersed in the story. This intelligent prose style developed by Hemingway is concise, intelligent and an attractive method to the reader setting the benchmark for many writers since. His “concise way of developing a plot through dialogue ….. attracted many imitators” (538).

     In conclusion I think Hemingway’s writing style incorporating the iceberg theory is an excellent strategy of writing and I feel it’s clear and concise narration his stories gained Hemingway a justified reputation becoming one of America’s most acknowledged writers and globally recognized in the literary canon. His writing style caught on like wildfire rapidly bringing him success and many fans. At the time of his death he was the most well known and studied writer in America. In today’s 21^st century his work is still essential on the literary scene with scholars still learning so much from his simplistic writing style. His stories have “developed a modern, speeded-up, streamlined style that has been endlessly imitated” (Hemingway 1981).

Works Cited

Hemingway, Ernest. Hills Like White Elephants in The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction by Ann Charters. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 538-542. Print

Hemingway, Ernest. The Norton Anthology American Literature. 7^th. D. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. 1981. Print.

“Hills Like White Elephants-Literary Analysis.” machete what we’re thinking… . machete Powered by WordPress, 02 Oct 2006. Web. 15 May 2011. <http://www.gummyprint.com/blog/hills-like-white-elephants-literary-analysis/>.

A Rose For Emily

When William Faulkner returned to Oxford, Mississippi after World War I, America was changing dramatically. In reading A Rose for Emily I feel there is a definite connection to the history of the South and the changes it was facing in the aftermath of World War I. America began dealing with its own problems expanding industries in all directions. Cars were introduced on a large scale and were affordable to working class citizens. Wages were higher than ever and technology allowed people to improve their lives being able to travel places they only heard of before. Roads were improved all over with the introduction of cars. Many new businesses opened along these roads and people realized they could now easily live in the country and travel by car to their city jobs. America was improving and expanding at a rapid rate. The North and the South became much more integrated. The South experienced drastic changes and I feel this is expressed in the story through Emily not being able to leave go of the past. I will look at the contrasting interests of the different generations of Jefferson society, how the story relates to the history of the South, and the theme of isolation.

     Miss Emily seems to represent the Old South. She is “considered a ‘monument’ of Southern manners and an ideal of past values” refusing to become a part of new society ("WowEssays.com"). She had been a tradition and a hereditary obligation upon the town since 1894 when Colonel Sartoris remitted her taxes, the same man who “fathered the edict that no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron” (Faulkner 409). This shows that she is stuck in the past, a past that suppressed its people. By not being able to let go of the past, it seems she is now the one being suppressed. She is the last of an old Southern family still clinging to the past even when “Colonel Sartoris had been dead almost ten years” (410). With him died the old generation but Miss Emily stubbornly refuses to move on. This is symbolized through her house “lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps- an eye-sore among eyesores” (409).

William Faulkner

     Isolation is a prevalent theme in the story. It seems that Emily’s father prevented her from a social education. His “spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip” (411) is symbolic of how he kept her in isolation: “[w]e remembered all the young men her father had driven away, and we knew that with nothing left, she would have to cling to that which had robbed her” (411). The suppression by her father had kept her in ignorance of a changing society. She knew nothing only the old traditions she was thought by her father. When he died the house was all that was left of the family’s history, a place frozen in time and people were glad as they “believed that the Griersons held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (411). They could finally pity her for becoming humanized: “[n]ow she too would know the old thrill and the old despair of a penny more or less” (411). It’s as if the whole town wants to flush out the old ways and traditions of the South and move on. They see Emily as a hindrance, an obstacle in the way of society’s progress.

     The new generation is adamant with moving forward with social change. A member of the rising generation requests that Miss Emily cleans up her house as it’s causing a smell and a bother to the neighbors but the older men of the board still respect her status from the old generation. The 80 year old mayor, Judge Stevens is stunned at the idea of accusing “a lady to her face of smelling bad” (411), so it is decided to spread lime around her property in secret. The smell dissipated shortly after. It seems that the older men see Miss Emily as representative of the old traditions and values of the South; and even though they’ve accepted social changes themselves, they don’t want to see the new generation bothering this martyr of the old Southern society which has suppressed her to a life of solitude.

     Some interpretations see A Rose for Emily as a conflict between North and South; however, I disagree with this view. I feel Homer Barron is a symbol of the ever growing and expanding America. He symbolizes improving connections between the North and the South becoming well known and liked by everyone in Jefferson: “[p]retty soon he knew everyone in town” (412).  Homer Barron was on the forefront of an ever changing society but Miss Emily was unwilling to let go of the past. It was all she knew. He was her last chance at happiness and escaping a life of isolation so when she realized he would not slow down for her or give her what she wanted, she took it for herself. Finally she could keep a man that her father could not chase away or society could take away.  By killing him he became a rose for Emily that she brooded over: “we saw a long strand of iron-gray hair” (415). I feel that just as this represents an isolated woman desperately clinging to love; it also has a connection to the history of the South at the time.

     It seems that Homer represented the expansion of America after World War I. Construction expanded at a rapid rate, and perhaps too fast to foresee what was coming. The Great depression hit and all that Homer stood for came crashing down. The construction industry collapsed and America was in disarray: “In the first 10 months of 1930 alone, 744 US banks went bankrupt and savers lost their savings” (Slothower). It seems that just like a rose, Homer (America) was magnificent in his bloom; but paved the way for his own destruction moving too fast for society to keep up, crumpling and withering just like a rose at a funeral. Maybe if he had slowed down, they would have lived happily together and faced the economic downturn with more knowledge of the setbacks a construction boom can cause.

     In Conclusion the Great Depression began in 1929, two years before A Rose for Emily was published in 1931. I feel this strengthens the idea that the story is based on a history of the South at that time. The South experienced many changes going from the construction boom of the nineteen-twenties to the Great depression. The changes in society and attitudes to these changes are expressed in the story through the contrasting perspectives of the old and new generations. There is a definite connection to the history of the South explored through Homer Barron symbolizing the North and the expansion of America, and Miss Emily holding on to past ideals and traditions. The theme of isolation is prevalent throughout the text. I feel this theme instills a moral in the story that society will leave us behind if we are unwilling to change with the times. However we need to be wary of these changing times as they are not always positive and maybe it is wise to hold on to some past ideals and traditions as we never know when we may have to fall back on them.

  

Works Cited

Faulkner, William. A Rose for Emily in Ann Charters The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. 8^th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 409-415. Print.

Slothower, Dennis. "Causes of the Great Depression."Economics.Help. Helping to Simplify Economics. N.p., 2008. Web. 2 May 2011. <http://econ.economicshelp.org/2008/10/causes-of-great-depression.html>.

"Symbolism In A Rose For Emily." WowEssays.com. Top Lycos Network, 2004. Web. 29 Apr 2011. <http://www.wowessays.com/dbase/ac2/xht124.shtml>.

The cruelty of humanity

Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener is a difficult story to construe; nevertheless I read it a number of times to reinforce my understanding of it and what I found was very interesting. Melville’s structure of how he told the story is laid out differently to the norm. This confused a lot of people but I believe his unique structure was relevant to how he wanted the story told. The title character is not introduced until the fifth page but Melville explains that we need to know the other characters and the narrator before we find out about Bartleby. This I feel is necessary as it shows us the progression of the narrator and how he transforms after meeting Bartleby. I will explain this transformation in my analysis as well as the importance of the characters. Of course there are many interpretations of this famous short story but I felt the most prevalent is a reflection on the cruelty of humanity. Melville’s own experience as a child was that of poverty and this may have contributed to the selected theme of this story. At the age of 15, his father went bankrupt and Melville was forced to go to sea as a cabin boy.

     He began writing novels but when Pierre (1852), was dismissed by critics as incomprehensible trash, he turned to the short story. However this work and another novel failed to restore his reputation. He moved to a house in New York and it was only 30 years after his death that he received credit for his work. In examining Bartleby, the Scrivener, I feel it is important to know the background of the author in order to get a grip on what he is trying to tell us. I think his story reflects his life experience where the cruelty of humanity and society allowed no rewards for his years of hard work.

     In the beginning of the story we are introduced to an elderly man who is the narrator and is experienced in his line of work: “[t]he last thirty years, has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men” (Melville 878). From his experience of people in the workplace and society, he has become a cold-hearted lawyer. He doesn’t seem to have a personal relationship with his employees calling them by their nicknames which were “deemed expressive of their respective persons or characters” (879). The lawyer seems to only care about the work his employees do: “[w]ith all his failings and the annoyances he caused me, Nippers, like his compatriot Turkey, was a very useful man to me; wrote a neat, swift hand; and, when he chose, was not deficient in a gentlemanly sort of deportment” (881).

Wall Street

     It’s as if the lawyer has become so cold that he doesn’t rely on his own conscience anymore so he uses Turkey and Nippers to act as his conscience for him: “‘Sit down, Turkey,’ said I, ‘and hear what Nippers has to say’” (887). Their contrasting moods suited the lawyer down to the ground. Nippers was cranky in the morning but relatively mild from 12 noon onwards while the opposite was said for Turkey: “I never had to do with their eccentricities at one time. Their fits relieved each other, like guards. When Nippers’ was on, Turkey’s was off; and vice versa. I am not sure what the purpose of Ginger Nut is but I think he may represent innocence. He is not yet aware of evils that lurk in society and goes about his little duties happily: “contained within a nutshell” (882).

     A transformation begins to occur in the lawyer after his first encounters with Bartleby: “There was something about Bartleby that not only strangely disarmed me, but, in a wonderful manner, touched and disconcerted me. I began to reason with him” (884). He feels pity for Bartleby seeing that some great misfortune has come over him. Even though he knows nothing of Bartleby, he sees that the cruelty of humanity has suppressed Bartleby to his current state of intolerability: “[i]t was his soul that suffered, and his soul I could not reach” (891). The lawyer starts to reach out to Bartleby in an attempt to gain back his conscience: “To befriend Bartleby; to humor him in his strange wilfulness, will cost me little or nothing, while I lay up in my soul what will eventually prove a sweet morsel for my conscience” (886).

     It was from the moment that Bartleby stood out from the crowd I think, that he got a hold of the lawyer and began transforming him: “Imagine my surprise… when… Bartleby, in a singularly mild, firm voice, replied, ‘I would prefer not to.’” (883). It is as if from this moment of refusal, Bartleby is showing the lawyer he is not just another scrivener and not another faceless part of his collection. He wants the world to recognize who he is much like how Melville wanted his work to be recognized.

     After Bartleby is sent to the insane asylum, the narrator saw what society had done to him. He heard a report “that Bartleby had been a subordinate clerk in the Dead Letter Office at Washington, from which he had been suddenly removed by a change in the administration” (904). The narrator feels great pity for Bartleby at this stage seeing him as “prone to a pallid hopelessness” with such a misfortunate job: “[c]an any business seem more fitted to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters, and assorting them for the flames?” (904). The dead letters seem to be symbolic of how Bartleby was shoved away and ignored when he needed to be delivered and helped. When he receives compassion from the lawyer, it seems he is already too far gone and it is too late for anyone to help him. It is as if Bartleby could never recover from the cruelty humanity inflicted upon him.

     In conclusion I feel Melville’s odd structure was a tactic used to draw readers in posing the question: Who is Bartleby? I think this story won its credit for the structure it holds. We see the cruelty of humanity expressed through the progression of the lawyer at the start as a cold-hearted man to a warm and caring person at the end as he saw the cruelty in humanity and tried his best to help Bartleby who had been affected by it. The lawyer has transformed from a man who saw his employees as just useful objects apart of his collection; to someone who cares and wants to change the world into a better place: “Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!” (904).

                                                                Works Cited

Charters, Ann. The Story and Its Writer An Introduction to Short Fiction. Compact 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 878-904. Print

Ying and Yang

Author of Frankenstein Mary Shelley

The monster in Frankenstein regards himself as both Adam and Satan as he subject to the cruelties of mankind and neglected by his creator. Just like Adam he is the first of his kind alone and isolated.  In every human being there is the ability to do great evil and this evil prevails when people are neglected. The monster just wants friendship and to be able to communicate with his creator but he is denied this right. Adam wants to gain knowledge of the world and gives in to temptation by taking the apple. Similarly Frankenstein sets out to educate himself so he can wreak revenge upon his creator. This is how he regards himself as Satan as well as Adam. He began his life with good intentions but the desertion of his master drove him to rebel against him just as Satan fell from grace rebelling against God and falling from heaven to hell. Frankenstein examines the human condition and how good and evil are interconnected. The monster starts out like Adam with good intentions but concedes to sin becoming like Satan in rebellion leading to his downfall.

     Evil can grow within the good and vice versa. It is our socialization that shapes us into who we are and how we are treated by others. Primary socialization is normally enforced through parents or guardians. It is how we are trained to act, our mannerisms, morals, etc. The monster in the story was not offered this education and he was maltreated by his creator which I feel sparked the growth of evil within him. It’s just like racism in that it creates a vicious circle. If someone is slandered by someone stereotyping him/her, than that person is going to react in a negative way and perhaps fulfill the stereotype. This doesn't necessarily mean the stereotype is true. If the same person is addressed in a positive way, these stereotypes may never reach the surface. The monster in Frankenstein I feel is a human being deprived of a human life and treated like a monster which eventually turns him into a monster. The monster himself even says if he is treated right he will be good: “[m]ake me happy, and I shall again be virtuous” (103)

     I think ‘Frankenstein’ demonstrates how evil is present in many ways and sometimes evil is falsely perceived. For example both Frankenstein and the beast become evil but this evil is perceived differently. Frankenstein refers to the beast as being evil in character solely based on its looks: “demoniacal corpse” (59). This may also be a reference to the monster having become like Satan being a demon. There is a thin line between good and evil. Satan was an angel and Adam was free of sin but evil could still grow within them. However they both had the ability to remain good. It seems that the cruelties of mankind drove them to commit great evils but if given the chance they could have proved that they could be good.

     It is interesting in the scene with the blind man that he sees this good in the monster. As he is blind he is not discriminative towards others based on looks and he judges the monster based on his conversations with him. He is blind but he sees through words who the monster really is- a human being: “there is something in your words which persuades me that you are sincere….. it will afford me true pleasure to be in any way serviceable to a human creature” (136). The monster wants the friendship of Frankenstein: “[w]ill no intreaties cause thee to turn a favorable eye upon thy creature, who implores thy goodness and compassion?” (103). However Frankenstein’s wicked human nature in playing God and abandoning his creation (Adam) to a miserable life of solitude by animating him with ugly deformed looks; lead the monster to revolt against mankind just as Satan revolted against God.

     As the monster begins to gain knowledge of the world he sees the close link between good and evil: “[w]as man, indeed, at once so powerful, so virtuous, and magnificient, yet so vicious and base? He appeared at one time a mere scion of the evil principle, and at another as all that can be conceived as noble and godlike” (122). He knows he has become evil but wants to be good. Loneliness and abandonment drove him to do evil deeds but he seeks to be good again as he once was if only Frankenstein will accept his friendship: “Believe me, Frankenstein: I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity; but am I not alone, miserably alone?” (103). Frankenstein continues to neglect the monster and so the monster continues to play the role of Satan falling from grace where he once lived a pure and sinless life like Adam.

Works Cited

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Rev. ed. London: Penguin Books, 2003. 59-136. Print.

Hope in the inevitability of change

The following analysis is an exploration of how social change is inevitable despite Victorian society’s desperate attempts to enforce its morals and gender code. I will refer to Bram Stoker’s Dracula as the primary text of my analysis of the themes of homoeroticism and sexual aggression that clearly outline the fears of Victorian society. In my analysis of Dracula I will relate to the The Castle of Otranto and Carmilla and I will highlight the similarities between the texts. In exploring the themes mentioned, I will highlight the threat of the feminist movement and gender roles that went against the social norms of a patriarchal society that wasn’t ready to concede to change.

     Victorian society was repulsed at the thought of same sex eroticism and viewed sex as necessary solely for reproduction purposes. In Dracula homosexual references are constantly made throughout the text “[t]his man belongs to me” (Stoker 43), but seem to be deflected to heterosexual encounters as “only through women may men touch” (Craft 448). I think Stoker was hiding homosexual references within the text as he himself was part of the later stages of Victorian society and feared he would be publicly slandered for such a publication or worse- jailed. “Dracula’s daughters offer Harker a feminine form but a masculine penetration” (Craft 446) where “the hard dents of the two sharp teeth, just touching and pausing there” (Stoker 43), suggesting an “explicit representation of a male’s desire to be penetrated” (Craft 447).

     This homoerotic undertone can also be observed within the text of Carmilla. Carmilla “would press me more closely in her trembling embrace, and her lips in soft kisses gently glow upon my cheek” (Ryan 89). Laura experiences homosexual encounters which she enjoyed but also disgusted her: “I experienced a strange tumultuous excitement that was pleasurable, ever and anon, mingled with a vague sense of fear and disgust” (90), just as Jonathon did in ‘Dracula’ in his encounter with the weird sisters: “[t]here was a deliberate voluptuousness which was both thrilling and repulsive, and as she arched her neck she actually licked her lips like an animal” (Stoker 42).

     These gothic horror tales highlight all that was disdained by Victorian society and just as we see homoerotic undercurrents in these texts, we can also see incestuous relations. Two of the weird sisters in Dracula “were dark and had high aquiline noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes” (42), suggesting they may be Dracula’s sisters or relations. In Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, we are subject to the same incestuous references. Manfred offers himself to Isabella in a desperate attempt to spawn a new heir to the thrown after the demise of his son who was supposed to marry Isabella. She is disgusted by the incestuous nature of the offer: “What do I hear! You, my lord! You! My father-in-law! The father of Conrad” (Walpole 34). Both texts reveal recurring incestuous references throughout and both also show strong representations of the moral code enforced through the sacred. Isabella “knew even Manfred’s violence would not dare to profane the sacredness of the place” (35), referring to the church. Similarly in ‘Dracula’ when the Count sees the crucifix, “[i]t made an instant change in him, for the fury passed so quickly that I could hardly believe that it was ever there” (Stoker 31).

          Victorian society was very constraining on its people suppressing anything that was different. The dominant forces in society tried desperately to enforce its moral code but times are always changing and Dracula clearly shows this. What appealed to me the most were the strictly enforced gender codes and the initial struggles of the feminist movement. The ‘new woman’ represented as sexually aggressive vampires “indirectly acknowledges woman’s dangerous potential” in society (Craft 452). I feel this is related to a patriarchal society’s fears of a strengthening feminist movement and this ‘new woman’ may be something terrible. “The sexualisation of Lucy, metamorphosing woman’s ‘sweetness’ to ‘adamantine, heartless cruelty, and [her] purity to voluptuous wantonness” (452) horrified Victorian audiences as it represents a sexually aggressive woman which completely goes against gender roles and it magnified the fear of the ‘new woman.’ This is symbolic of the social change that was strong in Victorian times through the nascent feminist movement. Women were becoming more outspoken and gaining more recognition in society.

     Dracula highlights society’s attempts to stamp out this change illustrated in the punishment of Lucy who suffers a ferocious death “for her transgression of Van Helsing’s gender code” (455). In the moment of Lucy’s death Arthur seems to represent society’s “untrembling arm..... driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it” (Stoker 192). His arm is untrembling and his face is set as he is serving a higher purpose, to rid Lucy of sin as “[a] woman is better still than mobile, better dead than sexual” (Craft 455). However change is inevitable and we see this in the conclusion where Little Quincey goes on to represent homoeroticism and the struggles of the feminist movement being partially conceived in the veins of Lucy who passed the blood to Dracula who in turn made Mina drink his blood: “[h]is bundle of names links all our little band of men together” (Stoker 326).

     Similarly I feel Carmilla represents the initial steps of the feminist movement: “[s]he was a person of consequence” (Ryan 81). The first wave of the feminist movement began in the 18^th century continuing on to the early 20^th century. Carmilla was written in 1872 in the later stages of this period. The novel shows how Carmilla exerts power over Laura immediately influencing her life: “[s]he interested and won me; she was so beautiful and so indescribably engaging” (87). Laura is left changed long after Carmilla is gone: “to this hour the image of Carmilla returns to memory” (137). I think this shows how one push is needed for a domino effect to take place in society. This story describes how one person cannot change society but they can leave a crack in its foundations that will widen and break tearing down social barriers and bringing about social change. Society changes over a few generations and we see the beginning of this change in the conclusion of the novel.

     Laura cannot forget about Carmilla. I think she herself is becoming a vampire and is set to carry on what Carmilla started: “[t]hat spectre visits living people in their slumbers; they die, and almost invariably, in the grave, develop into vampires” (137). She doesn’t fulfil her father’s plans of an arranged marriage which is a big shock for that era. I feel this symbolises going against the grain and the first movement against male dominance. In the execution of Carmilla we see the utmost desperate attempt by society to stamp out social change: “a sharp stake driven through the heart .....the head was struck off .....the body and head were.....reduced to ashes, which were thrown upon the river” (134). When someone breaks social norms there is a negative reaction to it and I think the execution represents that reaction where male dominance felt threatened by feminism and lesbian sexuality. But Carmilla has made an impact on society and her legacy lives on: “I heard the light step of Carmilla at the drawing-room door” (137).

     In conclusion I feel each text I’ve explored was closely linked in the evaluation of the themes I highlighted. Homoeroticism and sexual aggression were prevalent throughout all three texts. It seems that these themes are very much related to the lives of the authors, how they perceive Victorian society and its social norms. In Stoker’s Dracula there is an underlying homoerotic tone which is said to be attributed to Stokers good friend Oscar Wilde who was imprisoned in England for homosexual activities. It seems as if by writing about the threats to Victorian society, Stoker is actually highlighting the social constraints that limit the people’s freedom and how they wish to express themselves. Horace Walpole had a strong connection to Victorian society being a politician and son of first British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. His sexuality was questioned. Some biographers have perceived him as asexual. In this way, the homoerotic undercurrents and incestuous relations in The Castle of Otranto may represent society’s intolerance for difference. Le Fanu studied both law and journalism so he had a good understanding of society. He was aware of current issues and social deviance. Le Fanu was able to use his professional life in addressing societal problems and constraints in Victorian society in Carmilla. These texts were representative of a patriarchal Victorian society desperate to enforce its moral code in the face of change but in every society social norms are subject to change. We can see hope among the gory details of these gothic novels in knowing that no matter how constraining a society is, the people always have the power to change it.

Works Cited

Craft, Christopher. "Kiss Me with Those Red Lips": Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Critical ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 446-455. Print.

Ryan, Alan. The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories. Penguin Books, 1987. 81-137 Print.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Critical ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 31-326. Print.

Walpole, Horace Walpole. The Castle of Otranto. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 2004. 34-35. Print.

Mere Cogs In A Machine

William Faulkner returned to Oxford, Mississippi in 1919 after World War I when America was changing drastically. He experienced the great expansion of the 1920’s after the war when America began dealing with its own problems expanding industries in all directions. Cars were introduced on a large scale and were affordable to working class citizens. Wages were higher than ever and technology allowed people to improve their lives being able to travel places they only heard of before. Roads were improved all over with the introduction of cars. Many new businesses opened along these roads and people realized they could now easily live in the country and travel by car to their city jobs. America was improving and expanding at a rapid rate. Society became increasingly more systematic and many people had less time for their families or some just chose work as their primary concern.

     Then Wall Street crashed along with many other factors which caused the Great Depression of 1929. Social unrest quickly spread throughout America. Businesses shut down and unemployment rose everywhere. Faulkner published As I Lay Dying in 1930 a year into the Great Depression. He began writing it on October 24, 1929, the day after the American stock market crashed (“Novel Summaries Analysis”). I feel the story has a deep connection to the dramatic changes the South faced going from a time of great prosperity to immense poverty. In my exploration of the text I will look at the relevance of the time it was published and how this is portrayed through the lives of the characters. I will explore the theme of communication. In analysing the theme of communication I will chiefly focus on the relationship between Darl and Jewel.

     The family seem to represent all poor white farming families in the South. Their primary concern is working the land. They seem to put the family assets ahead of the family itself. It seems Cash’s tools are more important than their dead mother in the coffin in the flooding scene: “[w]e stand above him, holding the plane, the saw, the hammer, the square, the rule, the chalk-line” (Faulkner 1918). In the South farming life was restrictive and demanding on both men and women even before the Great Depression: “[t]he US Agricultural sector had been in recession for many more years” (Pettinger). A lot of farmers lived on an income of a little over a hundred dollars often having to supply themselves both farm labour and basic necessities: “a farmer’s life during the 1920s involved a constant struggle for survival” (“Novel Summaries Analysis”). This is evident in the text with all the sons’ assigned specific tasks on the farm. The story depicts a Southern families fight for survival really well when we see the men debating whether Darl and Jewel should take a three dollar job even as they know their mother is on the verge of dying: “[y]ou’d better make up your mind soon, so we can get there and get a load on before dark” (Faulkner 1865).

     It seems that the farm is the only concern of the family. There is no emotional connection that bonds any two family members together. This lack of communication spawns from Anse and Addie’s relationship from the start. He was a farmer who needed help running his farm so he proposed to Addie. We can make out from the text that they never even connected when they first met when Addie felt that the love Anse mentioned was “just a shape to fill a lack” (1921). A lot of women got married at the time on the basis that the man had wealth: “[t]hey tell me you’ve got a house and a good farm” (1920). Addie sees society as pushing her into a life she doesn’t want as she sees that her children are just objects that Anse wanted to help him with the farm and she was just the tool used to deliver them: “I knew that living was terrible and that this was the answer to it” (1921). She did not fulfil her maternal role as a loving mother would: “Cora Tull would tell me I was not a true mother” (1922) as she gave no extra attention beyond what was necessary: “I refused my breast to Cash and Darl after their time was up” (1922).

     It seems bad parenting and a lack of emotional support has caused extensive communication problems in the text and this is most evident in the relationship between Darl and Jewel. In Addie’s passage which Faulkner interestingly includes after her death, we see the blood as a representation of division in the family. From this section we can see conflicting relations between family members such as Darl and Jewel instilled through birth. It seems Addie is rebelling against a systematic suppressive society that constrains her to the one role of being a mother of kids she doesn’t want. Her negative perception of life causes her to be emotionless towards her first born children Cash and Darl but when she had Jewel, it seems the “wild blood boiled away and the sound of it ceased” (1923).

     Addie becomes calm but I feel she has passed her anger and negativity to Jewel. It seems she has given up and accepted the maternal role society has bestowed upon her: “[t]hen there was only the milk, warm and calm, and I lying in the slow silence, getting ready to clean my house” (1923). This is very symbolic of a time when women had no choice but to accept what was offered to them by a patriarchal society: “[f]or women, family is particularly painful, since it essentially assigns child-bearing as their sole purpose in life” (“shmoop gamma”). Resistance was futile especially in the poverty stricken times of The Great Depression. And so she became a mother long after conceiving her first born. This is symbolic of division in the family from its beginning seen through the blood that boiled away to leave Anse with Vardaman to replace the child Addie robbed from him: “[a]nd now he has three children that are his and not mine” (Faulkner 1923).

     Cash seems to represent the systematic society which had grabbed hold of America. Consumerism had one focus-work. In one passage by Cash he describes his work. He numbers thirteen points as to why he “made it on the bevel” (1888). It seems work takes up all his time with the “Chuck. Chuck. Chuck. of the adze” (1860) driving Jewel crazy: “[w]ith Cash all day long right under the window, hammering and sawing at that-” (1865). Even though Jewel himself is fully occupied with work too, his impatience of listening to Cash work symbolizes peoples disdain for a growing consumerist society and how an over enthusiastic attitude towards consumerism has led to The Great Depression causing farming families like the Bundrens to work even harder in order to survive: “a farm family’s land, labor, livestock, and equipment were its only assets” (“Novel Summaries Analysis”).

     The most prevalent communication problems can be seen between Jewel and Darl: “‘will you do that, Jewel?’ Jewel watches me, hard” (Faulkner 1911). Darl seems to know everything. He can tell what people are thinking by looking at them. He even knows of Addie’s feelings towards her children knowing that she did not consider him to be her son even though he loved her. He also seems to know that she passed her negativity to Jewel which is why Jewel has no regard for her even though he is her favourite: “I cannot love my mother because I have no mother. Jewel’s mother is a horse” (1893). Darl and Jewel’s feelings towards each other are intense especially in the flooding scene and the burning barn scene. Jewel overreacts to everything Darl does when they are trying to get the wagon across the river as Jewel: “looks back at me, his face suffused with fury and despair. ‘Goddamn you. Goddamn you.’” (1894) When the barn is set alight Jewel knows it was Darl and his quite reaction to it is frightening giving a sense of foreboding for bad things to come as he just stares at Darl: “he gives me across his shoulder a single glare furious and brief” (1939). Sure enough Jewel gets his revenge by organising for Darl to be seized and taken away to a mental institution. Jewel is shouting: “[k]ill him. Kill the son of a bitch” (1946). This is also symbolic of Jewel’s feelings towards his mother referring to her as a bitch. It reiterates the idea that this is a divided family in a selfish consumerist society.

     The flooding catastrophe is born out of the father’s selfishness. What he wants is new teeth and a new wife. However, he pretends it is because he made a promise to Addie that he would bury her in Jefferson. Even though he made this promise, it would have been acceptable to break it for the sake of the family but he goes through with it even with the risk of losing everything in the flood because he has his own selfish reasons for going to Jefferson. I feel Jefferson represents the growing consumerist towns in America where things were available to people that they didn’t need. I feel the family’s journey to Jefferson symbolizes the effects of the Great Depression as the family lose many of their assets in the process of seeking luxuries: “the purchases of luxuries like false teeth and bananas were a big deal” (“Novel Summaries Analysis”). It was aggressive obsession for material wealth that caused the stock market to crash so hard. People lost sight of family and were happy if they got what they wanted even if it was detrimental to those they were supposed to care for. Anse represents this selfish kind of person dragging his whole family on a torturous journey to fulfil his wants: “kind of hangdog and proud, with his teeth and all, even if he wouldn’t look at us” (Faulkner 1955).

     In conclusion the time of the text’s publication is definitely relevant to the ideas presented by Faulkner. I feel a lot of the text relates to the suppressive time of The Great Depression especially for farm families who were hit harder than most people. The selfish nature of a consumerist society is expressed through the character Anse who seeks luxuries that are not needed especially in times when it is so tight for the family to get by as Anse said himself (1907). Communication problems are born out of bad parenting in Addie’s refusal to properly play the role of a mother and Anse’ selfish attitude and obsession with material objects which leads to disaster for the family. We see a lack of communication between all family members but especially between Darl and Jewel. Their relationship is symbolic of many families during this period in America when farming families had so little time outside of work that there was no room for bonding or the family matters that should have mattered most. William Faulkner was a very inventive writer and being from the South himself and experiencing American life at the time of The Great Depression he was able to encapsulate brilliantly the suppressed life of working families and what they had to endure in order to get by in an unsympathetic consumerist society.

Works Cited

“As I Lay Dying Historical Perrspective.” Novel Summaries Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 May 2011. <http://www.novelexplorer.com/as-i-lay-dying/historical-perspective-5/>.

“As I Lay Dying Theme of Family.” Shmoop gamma. Shmoop University, Inc., 2011. Web. 9 May 2011. <http:/www.shmoop.com/as-i-lay-dying/family-theme.html>.

Faulkner, William. As I Lay Dying in The Norton Anthology American Literature. 7^th. D. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. 1911-1918. Print.

Pettinger, Tejvan. “Causes Of Great Depression.” Economics Help Helping To Simplify Economics. Economics Blog, 2011. Web. 9 May 2011. <http://www.econ.economichelp.org/2008/10/causes-of-great-depression.html>.