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English 301: Themes and Topics - Coggle Diagram
English 301: Themes and Topics
Life as a Facade
“To His Coy Mistress” - Andrew Marvell
Through a plea to his mistress, the speaker emphasizes the possibilities in life in order to convince their lover. However, the possibilities are overshadowed by the reality that is only presented by the speaker in order to envelope the mistress further into the act they commit.
“Of the Art of Discussion” - Michel de Montaigne
While touching on the topic of discussion, Montaigne tackles the notion that it can allow the growth of individuals through trial and error. However, Montaigne constantly contradicts himself through his onslaught of statements. This serves as a means to let himself be criticized rather than presented with a polished persona that is not as open for discussion.
“The Empathy Exams” - Leslie Jamison
As Jamison emphasizes in The Empathy Exams, the audience is able to understand the blatant cover that empathy is using as a means to show that a person cares. However, the empathy portrayed is not genuine which makes it lose the value behind it. By highlighting the falsehood enveloped within empathy, Jamison tackles the emptiness within the empathy that has become redundant and meaningless.
“Of Liars” - Montaigne
Understanding Montaigne’s writing can be a complex task given how he tackles Of Liars. Within the work, we can see how Montaigne uses his writing as a means to deal with memory given how fickle it can be and how conflicting it can be when the uncertainty can lead to lies. Although Montaigne emphasizes his dislike of liars, he can understand how lies are embedded within memory and how in some cases it is not entirely the individual's fault but it cannot wash them clean of their lies.
“Medium,” “Mediation” - Raymond Williams
Within Medium and Mediation, Williams tackles the idea that the genuine feel of works is being lost through the reproduction of the works and being mere superficial human consumption instead of giving and understanding the value that they carry. An example of what Williams is emphasizing is the constant use of photography in order to capture the work instead of taking in the physical work in itself.
“Ontology of the Photographic Image” - André Bazin
As control becomes essential to the state of photography, Bazin emphasizes how the difference between a painter and photography has amplified the extent to which human nature goes to be altered and how that false perception of reality can be used to further enhance the confusion that is connected to reality.
Disillusionment of Society
“The Mower’s Song” - Andrew Marvell
As the disdain for the unrequited love that the mower is experiencing, the audience is able to see the downfall of the mower in his craft. However, the product of his craft has not suffered but instead continues to thrive without the need for the mower. This serves as a stark reminder to the mower of the matter of his own dilemma with love as Juliana does not need him the way that he needs her thus raises the reality of what place the mower holds.
“The Male Glance” - Lili Loofbourow
When contemplating The Male Glance, we often are witnesses to how the media portrays women and acceptable it has become for them to be seen in such demeaning ways and even as far as to say that it has been normalized. There are many standards when it comes to how women are portrayed and seen by males and how they inherently are meant to support males instead of delving into the women and how complex they can be instead of simply taking in the superficial nature of their character.
“Christmas Tree” - James Merrill
During the final times of Merrill’s life, he was able to contemplate his own state of being and how he was perceived by others given his condition. There are many details embedded within Christmas Tree but the main nature that is emphasized is the cycle of life and how death becomes the looming inevitability that haunts us. However, the audience is reminded of how it is not something to be wary of for it will come but to focus on life and the possibilities it can hold.
“Farewell Performance” James Merrill
As the performance comes to a close, we can remember and cherish it. A direct reference to the inevitability of death, Farewell Performance serves as the nail in the coffin for the reality of life. We are meant to accept fate but it is often to much to bear and we escape into other comforts. However, they will not be enough to shield us from the realities that come with the end of our performances.
“Ladies’ Complaint” - Marie de Gournay
The title in itself is out of the norm given how women are not meant to complain but rather to be complicit. Thus, begins the dissection into how women are treated by society. Often disregarded, women are not valued for their own intellect but instead for being a woman. This emphasizes the preexisting notions embedded within groups that prevent people from assessing an individual without bias that disrupt their perception of the individual.
“Of Truth” - Francis Bacon
When understanding the gravity of truth, Bacon serves as a view into what truth can mean and valuable it is. Although lies continue the normalcy that covers the truth about life, they will not be a rendition of good but instead, mark us in the falsehood of what life is made instead of living in reality.
“No Kinda Sense” - Lisa Delpit
As vernacular is definitive in how people communicate, the issue of what is right arises and can hinder the ability of how an individual is seen and communicates with others. Given how there is a correct form of language set by society, Delpit raises the notion of how exclusionary this structure can be for the individuals who do not fit into such standards and how ostracized they can be when such norms are highly prevalent in society and especially in the education system and setting.
“Surface Tensions” - Judith Butler
Inspecting the images and meaning behind Diana Arbus’s photographs, the audience can form an understanding of how humanity is often lost when captured in photos. Often people put up a farce for the camera and therefore become ingenious as the subject assimilates to what society expects from them. However, Arbus deconstructs this notion when their images of the subjects take them as they are rather than make them conform to the ideals that surround photography.
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Facing Reality
“b o d y” - James Merrill
When taking in Merrill and his work as one, we can see the tradition through the word body as it is a distinction between birth to death. Given Merrill’s condition, the inevitable fate of death was looming over them, and how his own body was reaching that point. As a reflection of reality, Merrill gives us insight into how futile it is to avoid the inevitability that is death and how our bodies will succumb to such fate.
“The Mower Against Gardens” - Andrew Marvell
Although Marvell’s Mower’s poems go hand in hand, each holds its own distinctive point. As Marvell begins their take on control, we get the representation through gardens and the like. The need to control is ever present given how the mower criticizes the way those in power hold the reigns on what is reality yet Marvell gives us a view into how reality is when human control invades natural control without understanding the full extent of their influence.
“Damon the Mower” - Andrew Marvell
As Marvell disguises his works in the setting of nature and of a mower, we can continue to get an in-depth understanding of the dilemma that Damon finds himself in when consumed by his love for Juliana. However, Damon is confronted by the realization that his love is not reciprocated but is one-sided. This confrontation with reality deters Damon’s life from the order he had established and thus creates disarray in the order that he had become accustomed to.
“The Mower to the Glow-worms” - Andrew Marvell
As a continuation of the unrequited love that the Mower is holding for Juliana, the audience can assume how he notices reality but it is for naught as his thoughts are still on Juliana which makes him believe that there is a waste of the glow-worms who would be a diversion of disdain the mower is feeling from the one-sided love.
“Key West Aquarium: The Sawfish,” - James Merrill
When seeing the connection between the Sawfish and Merrill, there is a call to the confinement that they both feel through their own respective lives. As the sawfish is stuck in an aquarium and merely seen as an attraction, Merrill can connect to the sawfish as his own predicament with AIDS has caused him to be seen as less than what he used to be seen as. Although anything and anyone who is different than those who are considered normal, Merrill emphasizes how reality is stuck in a backward way of thinking when it comes to any entity and seeing it as any less than.
“Recitatif” - Toni Morrison
As the only short story by Morrison, there is so much to dissect within the short story that calls attention to the way society has shaped what is our reality. Morrison challenges this reality in which we have preexisting notions of individuals based on the respective groups they are a part of especially due to their physical attributes. As the speaker is never identified in terms of race as well as their counterpart, the audience is constantly yearning for the confirmation of their race in order to justify them in their respective groups instead of taking them as they are; human.
“To the Reader” - Michel de Montaigne
Understanding the type of author that Montaigne helps clarify the meaning of To the Reader as it relates to the connection that the author has with the reader. By getting a clear stance of who Montaigne is, the audience is able to believe him without thinking that they have an alternative intention of presenting a lie to the audience which in hindsight can simply be how Montaigne is within his work. However, Montaigne emphasizes how often readers are deceived and led astray by the author as they are not truthful and instead come to believe something akin to distrust.
“When I Consider” - John Milton
When confronted with the worth that our lives hold, there is often an emptiness associated with these thoughts. The purpose that we hold is often connected to what society deems to be rights however our reality is meant o be contorted to what is right rather than what others may believe is correct. A distinctive difference that can make or break our lives.
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