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ENG45C (Modernist Texts), "Their Eye's Were Watching God"…

- - - - Septimus Smith (a WWI veteran) "takes action" by committing suicide. It is not an act to achieve a desire (other than to kill himself) but an act that outstands any other within the novel.
        
        Virginia Woolf takes action by addressing "Shell Shock" in further depth, which was new for literature during that time period (1920's).
      - Through the course of one day, Mrs. Dalloway buys flowers and walks through London, preparing for a party. The novel transitions between the points of view of herself and her guests as they all prepare to attend Clarissa Dalloway's party that night.
      - The protagonist, Clarissa Dalloway, does not take action. She desires to live a life without societal pressure (to act unlike the stereotypical "woman", yet she fails doing so by continuously acting those stereotypes (hosting parties).
        
        Dalloway's desire to find meaning does not stay the same throughout the novel. She wishes at first to not be the "stereotypical woman" that hosts parties, but after Septimus's death, this changes as she sees his suicide as an act to escape the social norms put upon him. Dalloway's decision to "live fully" and enjoy what she has (her parties) is what she comes to believe is her purpose (to host parties). This gives an ambiguous end to the novel as some may argue she is a character of action because she found meaning, yet in terms of fighting social norms, Dalloway is ultimately a character of "inaction" as she accepts the social norms foisted upon her.
        
        "She felt somehow very like him—the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking. The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. She must assemble. She must find Sally and Peter. And she came in from the little room" (Woolf, Page 283).
  - - - An adaptation of the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice from Eurydice's (the wifes) perspective. Eurydice, who has died and is now in the underworld, first wishes to return to the earth to wtiness the beauty of it, yet free from Orpheus, her past lover, who is depicted as controlling and misogynistic. Orpheus attempts to save her, making a deal with the gods that he may lead her out only if he does not look back (at her).
        
        Though Orpheus fails in sticking to the deal and does look back, choosing to act. There are several interpretations to why he looks, but one of the most reasonable ones is that it is because he is proud of his achievement in fetching her.
        
        Eurydice chooses to act by accepting her fate of remaining in the underworld, where she finds independence from Orpheus' control.
        
        "At least I have the flowers of myself, / and my thoughts, no god / can take that; / I have the fervour of myself for a presence / and my own spirit for light" (H.D.).
    - - A poem comparing a train's and the faces of passengers in the windows arriving or leaving a station to a tree branch.
      - This poem displays authorial action, as Ezra Pound is experimenting with both the form and content of poetry. Unlike poems that came before it, this poem is minimal in that it is purely an image (of a train and bough). This is one of his most notable works in the imagism movement (the focus on image rather than lyric). Pound experiments with form, as the format of the poem itself (the lines) mimic that of both a train or bough.
        
        "The apparition of these faces in the crowd: / Petals on a wet, black bough" (Pound).
        
        Although not visible here, in the printed version of this poem there are irregular indentations between several of the words on each line. This creates an image like that of the seperation between the trains windows; “apparition” is like the shuddering effect of the train passing by. In the second line, the gaps between the words mimic that of how "petals" grow on a bough at random and not in perfect patterns.
    - - "Spring and All" (Williams) 1923
        
        A poem in a larger collection by the same title, showing the change from winter to spring as a metaphor for the imagism movement and modernist writing as a "new" method. By this comparison, Williams is also showing the dominance the "modernist method" of writing has, as the seasons are a dominant force, controlling lifecycles, causing people to wear certain clothing, and to occupy certain eras (inside during the winter when its cold, and outside in the spring when it warms up).
        
        This displays "taking action", as Williams is taking action by writing with this new "modernist method" of imagism rather than focusing too much on lyric. The poem also displays action being taken by the seasons changing, as change is a form of taking action. The opposite of change would be to remain, to be parylized, unable to change.
        
        "Still, the profound change / has come upon them: rooted they / grip down and begin to awaken" (Williams).
      - "The Second Coming" (Yeats) 1919
        
        What seems like a poem about enlightenment, The Second Coming describes a "beast", or a new century awaiting or on its way to take the place of Christian belief.
        
        Though, as this is also a form of authorial action, Yeats uses this image of enlightenment to show the coming of modernism and modernist writing and technique. The poem also displays "taking action" as the "beast" is planning to take over and replace.
        
        "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?" (Yeats).
        
        "Its hour come round at last" shows that the "beast" or the new modernist methods "hour" has come.
      - "Easter, 1916" (Yeats) 1916
        
        A poem of Yeats' feelings about the Easter Rising, the rebellion for independence from the British.
        
        The poem shows Yeats' twain feelings of hatred for violence, and pride and honor for the Irish who fought for independence, as Yeats, an Irishman, takes their side.
        
        "I write it out in a verse— / MacDonagh and MacBride / And Connolly and Pearse / Now and in time to be, / Wherever green is worn, / Are changed, changed utterly: / A terrible beauty is born" (Yeats).
        
        Yeats honors those who died fighting (taking action) for their county's indendence by mentioning their names (whether these are real names or not). By stating the color green as being "changed utterly" Yeats shows how Ireland was forever changed. And becausen "change" means the making of something different, it is a form of taking action.
- - - - Quentin Compson, a young adult tasked with attending Harvard (to raise the status of his family name and make it aristocratic), wants nothing to do with that task. He desires instead to preserve his family's past and the relationship with his siter, Caddy, that they had in childhood. He is unable to "act", as he consistently fails to ever carry out his planned actions. And his desire is ultimately smothered by the passage of time, which carries Caddy into adulthood. Quentin decides the only way to stop this, to stop time, is in commiting suicide.
        
        Jason Compson desires the opposite of Quentin and Benjy. He desires to break free from the restraintive family's past, and to create himself anew, independent from the family. He becomes infatuated with money and economy and bases all his relationships off that, only doing things for profit. Because of Jasons desire to get money in any way possible, he ends up controlling his family and becomes a character of action, doing anything possible to get his hands on cash. His actions ultimately keep his family from changing, as the current state of the family leads him to the most profit.
        
        "'Dont you know any better than to take him to the left?' he said. He reached back and struck Ben, breaking the flower stalk again" (Faulkner, Page 249).
        
        This quote shows how even the slightest bit of difference from how things have always been for the family causes things to go to havoc. Benjy cries because the carriage went around a statue a different way then he is used to, and Jason punishes Luster (one of their servants) who drove the carriage, and makes sure everything is exaclty the same as it always has been.
  - - - The narrator sits in a London coffee shop, describing the "crowds" of people that walk by, going home. At one point he notices a man in rags and begins to follow him through the dark streets, curious of his intentions. But the narrator never figures out who or what the man was doing.
      - The narrator is unable to act (to interogate) when coming face to face with the mysterious man, as he states the man having ignored him and walked right past.
        
        The narrator is likley unable to understand the man, as he is a product of the city (which holds so many people, it is impossible to know everything; the city was a kind of new social norm at that time, or one that people were getting used to, and only starting to write about). And despite taking action to follow the man throughout the city, once confronted by him, the narrator is paralyzed.
      - "He is the man of the crowd. It will be in vain to follow; for
        I shall learn no more of hirn, nor of his deeds" (Poe, Page 515).
    - - A poem showing a man (Prufrock) wanting to be sociable, yet being too scared to.
      - Prufrock is unable to "act" out of fear. He desires to do anything sociable, be part of society, yet he is paralyzed, unable to even try to act out any social norms.
        
        "Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? / I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach" (Eliot, Page 2143).
        
        He asks whether or not he should "split his hair", something that anyone else may not even consider, let alone consider it a trifle. Just as, "Do I dare to eat a peach?" Does he even "dare" to eat?
- - - - A poem showing a mountain nymph controlling by calling the waves to cover the land. (Clash of land and sea).
        
        "Whirl up, sea— / whirl your pointed pines" (H.D.)
        
        The combining of "land" and "sea" to break the separation of differences of female and male behaviors and stereotypes.
      - A call to women (to take action) that they can be both beautiful and strong; that there is beauty in strength; a desire to (and for all women) to break away from what society has decided as "womanly".
    - - A novel showing the decline of the Igbo tribe to colonialism, specifically following the life of Okonkwo and his striving to be a "strong man" unlike his father (or how he saw his father).
      - Okonkwo consistently "takes action" in order to live his desire of being "powerful, strong, and manly". He chooses to act entirely opposite of (independent from) how his father would have acted in his life, as he thinks of his father as a weak, useless man who chose to do "woman-like" things for his tribe (like playing music and hosting social gatherings) instead of being the strong warrior that Okonkwo thought he should have been.
        
        The reason Okonkwo believes a man, like his father, should be a "warrior, or at least strong like one" is because of the oral stories he heard (which was a common tradition within the tribe) where men were characterized as defeating beasts and saving villages.
      - "My father, they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak" (Achebe, Page 69).
        
        Ikemefuna, Okonkwos son, is killed by command of Ezeudu (an elder who claimed a god had requested his death) who told Okonkwo not to take part as it is a rule that the family cannot take part. Okonkwo breaks this rule, he chooses to act against the law in order to fufill his desire to be considered "strong".
  - - - A lawyer working in an office on Wall street hires Bartleby, a copier who one day decides he would "prefer not to" work. The plot follows the lawyers obsession to understanding Bartleby, which he is unable to ever do.
        
        Bartleby's decision to refrain from working is an act of disobeying the economic system, to break free from the machine-like identity the system foists upon its workers. His decision to deny the machine (the job, the lawyer, and role) causes the system to begin falling apart (as machines do when removing one of its parts), and Bartleby ultimately fulfils his desire of finding independence from the society.
        
        "'Won’t he dine to-day, either? Or does he live without dining?'
        'Lives without dining,' said I, and closed his eyes" (Melville, Page 30).
        
        Bartleby's refusal to "eat" or to consume is a way of showing how he refuses to conform to capitalism (which functions purely on consumption). This ultimately leads to his death.
        
        Bartleby is often titled "a man of action", though throughout the story, he literally refuses to act. Bartleby chooses to abstain from the economic system, therefore allowing him to achieve his desire.
- - - - This quote shows how only the rose that has gone through certain amounts of struggle can prevail (can grow strength), while a rose (not by the violent sea) cannot, as it is unexposed to those struggles that strengthen it. This is a metaphor to show how finding an independent identity (not one that is imposed) is achieved through preserving and the act of fighting against.
- - - - "The Turn of the Screw" (Henry James) 1898
        
        An unnamed governess is hired to watch two young children, Flora and Miles, at the remote Bly estate. There, she becomes convinced that the estate is haunted by the previous governess, Miss Jessel and previous valet, Peter Quint whom the she believes to possess malignancy towards the children.
        
        Because the Governess is unable to receive any information about the previous governess and valet, nor able to receive much information about the children from her co worker Mrs. Grose, she, in a sense, fulfils her desire to know by creating her own truth in her imagination (she takes action) which she then projects onto the land, as she fully believes it. This truth she imagines is that the ghosts of the former governess and valet have potential sexual intentions toward the children, and are attempting to take away their "purity". This belief is a projection of the Governesses own intentions and desires. Her way of understanding this desire, which she may not understand (the desire to have physical relations with the children, specifically Miles) is through projecting it on the past governess.
        
        "They haven't been good—they've only been absent. It has
        been easy to live with them, because they're simply leading a life of their own. They're not mine—they're
        not ours. They're his and they're hers!" (James, Page 117).
        
        "Good" to the Governess is "purity", and the governess believes that it is easy to take care of the children because the ghosts are "taking care" of them; they are doing something "evil" to take away their purity. On the surface, Governess wishes to preserve their purity.
      - "Sailing to Byzantium" (Yeats) 1927
        
        The journy of a man trying to escape his old dying body to preserve his spirit and ability to create art. By the end of the poem, he comes to accept the erosion time has on the body, comparing it to the city of Byzantium which has perservered its beauty, its gold through time despite being ancient.
        
        The man's embracing of the "erosion" caused by time is ultimately choosing to act, while choosing inaction would be to not accept the effects of time.
        
        "Or set upon a golden bough to sing / To lords and ladies of Byzantium / Of what is past, or passing, or to come" (Yeats).
        
        Here, he compares himself to a Grecian golden statue that still suffers from the passage of time, the slow erosion from wind and rain, but even still, its beatuy is preserved.
- - - - This quote shows the authenticity Black Americans possess in playing Blues music, how it creates a feeling so intense in the performer that he is tired out.
- - - - Light Blue: Both ACTION and INACTION
- - - - This line from the play, the very first line, shows how the characters think there is nothing that they can do to obtain their desires (to do something else with their time and to have meaning in their lives). And so, believing this, they wait for Godot who will "bring them or tell them something" but whom ultimately never comes.
  - - - He realizes that maybe the "act" he has truly failed to do, is to cherish and explore his own country, Ireland.
    - - Gabriel compares himself to the boy who sacrificed his life for his wife in youth. In this quote, he essentially explains that even the dead are more alive and present, as they lived passionful lives of action.
  - - - "I will arise and go now, for always night and day / I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; / While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, / I hear it in the deep heart’s core" (Yeats).