eal1204′s Blog

Why do you think loyalty is so important to the blue-collar, ethnic community that Miller portrays in his play?  Why do you think loyalty might have been a complicated issue to Miller in the 1950s?  What makes loyalty such a difficult value for Eddie? And, finally, has your notion of loyalty ever been tested in ways similar to Eddie’s?

Loyalty, in the eyes of the blue-collar, ethnic community that Miller portrays, is of great importance because that is one of the only things they have.  These families look solely to one another for support, especially when it comes to income.  With money being crucial and having immigrant family members living within their homes, loyalty is extremely important.  If someone doesn’t stay loyal to their family, and does something like snitch on an immigrant family member, that member has completely lost their sole income to feed and care for their families.  It all goes back to being loyalty being a defninite characteristic of a strong, well knit family.

If it isn’t for family, who else do the working, blue-collar class community have?  Therefore, keeping strong loyalty is strong importance.  Right off the back, Eddie explains what happened to the boy who gave up his immigrant uncle–after the uncle was sent away, the boy was looked down upon and shamed by the community, and was never to be seen again.

Loyalty, before Rodolpho, is easy.  Yet upon Catherine’s liking of Rodolpho, Eddie begins to push the lines of what is considered loyal.  The value of loyalty is difficult for Eddie because being loyal, in his case, means giving up his love for Catherine completely.  It’s either lose Catherine and be loyal, or go against all that is loyal and construe a plan to send Rodolpho away in his attempts to “keep” Catherine.  So in a sense, it’s a dilemma between his desire for Catherine versus his loyalty to the morality of being loyal.  In his rage for Catherine, he even begins to lose his own loyalty in B. by paying less and less attention to her and losing all relationship with her towards the latter of the book.

I have never had my loyalty tested in the same way as Eddie had.  I mean, of course, there are meager instances where there are little family issues that stay within the family, but I have never had my loyalty tested because of a loved one.  It is common however, where someone is so hurt, that they would disregard all loyalty to avenge their love for someone else.  However, I don’t think that Eddie having to witness Catherine fall in love with someone else justifies his actions to take upon an action that is extremely disloyal to his family, whether it be on Beatrice’s side of the family or not.

The indians that are portrayed in this story do not seem to have the same intelligence that Nick, his father and his uncle have.  Yet, while reading the story, i don’t think they are completely primitive, if they were, i don’t think they would have such ties with Nick’s father.  If they were completely primitive, they would most likely not even know how to have any kind of communication with civilized America, like with Nick and his father.

However, i don’t think Nick’s father cares too strongly for the indian woman.  Him not having any type of anesthetic to alleviate her screams shows that he is sort of doing the minimal requirement of work to help her have her baby.  If it were possibly a white, i think Nick’s father would have made sure he had some kind of anesthetic on him to alleviate the screaming.  The screaming doesn’t tend to bother Nick’s father, as he states it is not important, yet it bothers Nick to hear.  I think as a doctor, he is accustomed to the screams, it doesn’t necessarily mean he likes to hear the screams nor does he want to, but Nick’s fatherknows what must be done and he must go on despite the screams.

The husband however, could not stand the screams.  Unlike Nick and his father, he does have an emotional attachment to the screams.  Nick’s father sees the indian woman as just an indian that needs HIS help because they lack the tools and intelligence to make such an operation.  He does it without any worry, while the husband cannot fathom to look in the direction but rolls over and eventually commits suicide.  There is a difference in the two men here, Nick’s father is cold and in a sense, looks down upon the indians, while the indian man is strongly tied to the situation, emotionally.

With the way Nick’s father treats the situation with the indian woman’s birth and the suicide of the indian man, Nick, who was before caught in the middle–still young enough to not have a strong opinion, he felt saddened by the indian man and woman, yet could still be influenced by his father,  Nick “felt quite sure he would never die.”  He sees the indian man die, and feels that will never be him, therefore he will never die.

The art showed thruoghout the galleries is modern because it transitions into pieces of art that hadn’t been done before.  The Armory show of 1913 brought both American and foreign artists to bring forth a new way of creating and viewing artwork.

Right off the beginning in gallery A, the sculpture of Lucifer by Andrew Drasburg .  He took a piece that was already sculpted, and made it something new, yet totally different, but with still some similarities within it. It becomes intense as we see “Lucifer,” in a normal sculpture of a man, possibly meant to leave some interpretation of people containing evil in them.  the pieces in Gallery A are strong, and intensly emotional. The White Slave by Eberle portrayed a strong outlook on prostitution, which wasn’t being portrayed prior to this.  It was actually something that was REAL and being shown outright for everyone to see.

Painting like such in Gallery L, with bright colors also were modern and shown frequently through the Amory Show.  I liked the emotional and dark colors used by Glackens and the uniqueness that was set forth by “The Spanish Gypsy” by Robert Henri.  He didn’t know the surreal and fancy of the gypsy, but rather the real and unique-ness of her.  Bellows, in Gallery L, didn’t try and throw in his opinion in his painting, but painted sporting events and the “appreciation” for such sports, i enjoyed viewing the Polo at Lakefield.

Convicts and Guard also seemed to pose a real-ness like that of the White Slave, as did Hunger Under the Bridge and Weary.  They showed the realism of how the poor were really suffering at that time.  Terminal Yards in Gallery M already showed the realism of the city. Wisdom and Destiny seems really emotional as it isn’t something that gives a direct point, but leaves for a bit of interpretation as  Wisdom can be sought through growing and learning like the man on the right, whereas your desinty can be something as pure as the woman or as dark and eerie as the hooded figure to the right of the woman, but either way, our destiny is unknown.

The stylistic way of the paintings in Gallery Q are also quite different than what is seen prior.  The brush strokes and the paint choice help to illuminate the realism in these paintings. The colors are not too dark, but delicate, smooth colors that give the impressionism of the past with a modern twist of how it’s painted.  There isn’t too many details to the paintings, just strong brushing that make it a bold picture, like Mountains at St.Remy. There isn’t much in the picture, but it is still bold in its color choice by Van Gogh

Because i could not stop for death

death is pretty inevitable, so here she’s basically saying that despite anything she really does, death will always come when it is the right time, without any warning.

He kindly stopped for me

it’s strange that she picks death as a masculine idea.  i think she does so because death is something you see that’s usually strong, in the sense that you can’t surpass it when your time is up.  It’s stereotypically referred to as being something pretty deep, which could also be seen as something more feminine, so it definitely eye catching that she picked it as a masculine trait.

The Carriage held but just Ourselves –

death, obviously, just came for her. Just like everyone else will have their time, it was her time to be “picked” up by death.

And Immortality

this follows up basically what she just explains.  Her opinion seems to  be that there is some kind of life after death.  Immortality means some kind of unextenguishable form of life.  Since death is coming for her, this probably refers to some kind of long afterlife.

We slowly drove — He knew no haste

since she’s already on her way to death, there is no reason for “death” to hurry in any such manner.

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

since she’s on her way to death, there’s no point in her doing any labor.  her need to work, to live, is done.  is becoming immortal after death a good thing then? here she’s stating there is neither labor nor any leisure.  Can one actually be happy without either?

For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

i feel here, that maybe she’s visiting her childhood.  A place where children strove, meaning some kind of a playgroud, maybe death wants to her to revisit her past for one last time, when she says “for his civility.” it would be appropriate for him to let her glimpse over her past before she goes into immortality.

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –

i can’t really guess what this would trully mean, but maybe it’s to do with her morning routines everyday as she grew older.

We passed the Setting Sun –

As she grows old, the setting sun seems more appropriate in her mannerisms.  Her actions everyday upon returning home from her days events, possibly.  i feel that “death” is really taking her on her last journey through her past life before she reaches the actual action of death and its “immortality.”

Or rather — He passed Us –

to say that the grazing sun rather “passed us” kind of proves what i’m trying to say.  it’s all flashing by her now, everything in her previous life, everything she did, everything she thought, everything she was, is passing by her one last time as she rides along with death.

The Dews drew quivering and chill –

death is usually seen as something that is cold and unpleasant, and as she rides along with death, it seems only ideal that it be necessary for her to feel a “quivering and a chill” as she follows along with death.

For only Gossamer, my Gown –

stereotyically, when people claim to see ghosts, they identify these ghosts as wearing something white and a gown, if it be a woman ghost.  a gossamer-type gown would be the perfect thing for something a ghost would wear.  i think here, she’s drawing to the fact that she’s becoming more and more closer to death than reality.

My Tippet — only Tulle –

a tippet is usually a shawl-like artical of clothing worn around the arms, and for it to be made of tulle pretty much refers to  my previous statement.  She’s gaining the “ghost-like” appearance now even with her garment.

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

a house that is a swelling of the ground could mean that of a grave–a freshly dug grave.  Here is probably the last trip of her journey with death. first it was her childhood, then adulthood, and now her grave, signifying death.

The Roof was scarcely visible –

the “roof” would me the small path of dirt that heaps over the top of the grave when a coffin is first buried in.  It would make sense for it to be “scarcely visible” as her death has just occured.

The Cornice — in the Ground –

the cornice, the adjoining piece to the “house” aka grave is completely in the grown, signifying her grave is already dug into the ground.

Since then — ‘tis Centuries — and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

since she has seen all her life passed her by on her ride with Death, it’s been centuries since she’s been dead, but yet she says it feels shorter than the day.  here, she makes it seem that after death time seems to fly by.  It goes by a lot quicker than it does when you’re alive.  Is this a good thing though?  I feel that maybe it is a good thing that the days seems to go by quicker.

I first surmised the Horses’ Heads

Were toward Eternity –

the horses’ heads are belonging to that of the charriot of death she could have rode on towards immortality.  the last ride with death was her last ride towards immortality.

The “I” that watches the crowd is different in the sense that he is unfamiliar with the people; he isn’t really one with them.  He explains how their costumes were curious to him.  All the people, even though they make contact with him, are strangers and disintergrated from him.  The “I” that crosses the flood the flood tide does not seem to have as much difficulty as the “I” with the crowd.  I think, the Whitman that is crossing the flood tide comes off the be more at peace with the flood tide due to the fact that it is a thing if nature.  In other poems, he’s always quite comfortable with nature, and this one comes to be the same way.  The river is familiar to him, as is all of nature.

By the end of the peace, he resolves in understanding that he will always know the people.  Even though he is not all familiar with them all, the people, as a whole, will always be a part of who he is.  He, in some sense, comes to understand and know the crowd.

“Colleges and books only copy the language which the field and the work-yard made”

Here, Emerson approaches the caution that should be taken with books and colleges.  He believes that colleges are a means of limited ones creativity and limit what people are able to learn.  If one solely looks to books to learn, they become limited by that.  Instead of learning and gaining their own sight to form their own opinion, they solely live off by what they learn strictly from books.  Emerson believes that people need to create their own experiences, thus, use nature, not solely imitate and learn from books, nor be limited to colleges and institutions.

In “The Man of the Crowd,” the narrator becomes so transfixed upon the old man because of how different he is. Prior to him, he was so easily able to decipher this person from that person, stating what group they belonged to and what they did. Yet with the old man, he is puzzled. He sees a strong history within the old man’s “bosom.” With the narrator’s first glance, he was already strongly interested in the old man, due to the “account of the absolute idiosyncrasy of its expression.”
Being able to easily read the other people, all the pick-pocketers, gamblers, clerks etc. the narrator is very intrigued to see someone so different. The old man becomes the only one he cannot classify, and coming off of an illness, the narrator has a stronger insight and appreciation to see something so different and with a different perspective.
The Old man seemed unique. His clothes were worn and dirty, but yet the material was made of a beautiful texture. Being an old man, he still contained the power and movement of a young man as he continually wandered around the town all night. Looking at the old man, the narrator still could not read the old man like he could with the rest of the crowd. By the end of the story, the narrator had yet to accomplish finding the story of the old man and realized he never would.

In today’s society, there are differnt instances of things that shouldn’t be mixed, but yet, still are.  I think the fact that America is totally consumed with what the mass media has to say, when it is all negative is something that shouldn’t be mixed but still is.  Many things in our culture also should’nt be mixed, whether it be beliefs that people have, like racial intergration, or drinking or the use of drugs.  For the longest time, the older generations of my family considered dating outside of the race as being a  means of “pollution.”  They saw it like oil and water, whereas they do not mix. More and more, this is becoming widely acceptable in our society.

Drug usage is also something that shouldn’t be mixed and is considered something like “pollution.”  Today, instances like the recent story of Michael Phelps’ image of using marijuana show the impacts of two things that shouldn’t really be mixed.  Like Robin’s where he accepted the pollution, there are instances like so today.  Smoking ciggarettes are dangerous to our health after doing it for so long, yet people still willingly do it.

The significance of the “pink ribbon” throughout the story was pretty significant.  I never really realized the mixture of the sensual red and the pure white in the interpretation of the pink ribbon.  It being symbolic of Young Goodman Brown’s consistent “in between” stage, just like his living situation.  What i also found interesting was that the pink ribbon also is symbolic of how Young Goodman Brown is in a new stage, whereas he’s only been married a few months.  As of this point of his life, he’s somewhere between the lust, sensual feeling of the red and the faithful, pure white.

His own struggle of leaving Faith or leaving because of his oath also seemed interesting.  Him deciphering whether or not after Faith’s plea, but yet still going also shows again his in-between style of living.  Faith, herself, is quite pure; in the reader’s eyes as well as Goodman Brown’s.  Her name even suggests her purity and innocence.  When Goodman Brown is in the forest, his thoughts continually return to that of Faith.  All the dichotomies also seemed to be of interest.  With the time of day being sunset, the time between night and day, the pink ribbons, and the opening of the story beginning on the threshold–where the house meets the outside world.

When Goodman Brown begins to lose everything to the evils he is with, even his faith, (both faith’s, his wife and his beliefs) he has a different attitude and view on life.  He not only lost what he once had, but his old beliefs are smothered by the deacon engaging in rituals, making him lose his on reliability on faith.

so about me, i’m Erica and i’m a second semester freshman. So far i like State, it’s quaint, but interesting.  This is probably the most versatile place i’ve ever been, walking around, you see people of difference races, “stereotypes,” and backgrounds–which is pretty cool. I like to do a  bunch of different readings and sports.  I’m all about being creative, which is perfect for a place like SF. I’m lookin forward to this class being enjoyable and a great semester.