English 2850 Fall 2022: Great Works of World Literature II

This is a very full and somewhat complex week for us in English 2850. This week, we have two very different readings scheduled: Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, “Punishment” and T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” During our in-person class on Wednesday, Nov. 9th, we will divide our time between those two texts, so please be sure you’ve read both before class.

Part of the week’s complexity comes from the fact that with “Punishment”, we are completing our study of Literary Realism, and with “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, we are beginning our investigation of Modernism. You can find “Punishment” in volume “E” of your anthology and “Prufrock” in volume “F”.

In addition to reading both texts, your assignments for the week are as follows:

• Read Tagore’s “Punishment” and respond to one of the questions I’ve shared about the story in a separate post.

• To prepare for our conversation on Wednesday and for our investigation of Modernism, please watch a short video I recorded during the pandemic.  Hopefully, this will give you a fuller picture of what is going on in intellectual history in the early 20th century and how that might affect the kind of artistic work being created.

You can watch the video using this LINK as well as the Passcode: ?Ste%H1r

Once you have watched the video, please make a comment on this post, sharing one observation that made an impression on you from the lecture or one thought that you have in response to it.  Please share your comments by Wednesday, November 9th.

• Read Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and come to class ready to discuss the poem. Identify one line that you would like us to discuss – either because you think it’s important, you didn’t understand it, or because you simply liked it. Expect that you will be called upon to share your selection in class.

The passage I have chosen to do an analysis on is from page 242 in chapter 2 which states “Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart; and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.”. From this, I understand that music was a way for slaves to express their feelings. Music is mostly associated with joy and happiness but for the slaves, it represented tears from their unhappy feelings. This goes to show that music was a way for slaves to tell their stories. Music represents who they were. Music was a very sensitive emotion and when singing Douglass speaks about the sorrow and sadness these slaves had such as when they sang about going to the Great Farmhouse. Going to the Great Farmhouse was considered a “privilege” and the slaves sang to express their feelings or sing about hope or inspiration, but this did not mean that their conditions weren’t harsh either. Douglass’s use of language draws focus to a crucial point he makes about slavery in his writing. It helps get his message across. Douglass uses language to talk about the hard things and experiences in his life and Douglass was able to show what really happened to slaves in the south and how bad the slaveholders were by the way he spoke. One thing that I question is where the slave owners ever heard the slaves singing with so much emotion and if that ever made them feel some sort of way. Listening to someone express their feelings is a very sympathetic situation. Slave owners were not nice at all but how is it possible to ignore someone singing with so much emotion? However, the slave owners took the emotional singing the wrong way. They never thought that a slave can be sad and desired a better life. The singing just goes to prove their sadness.

• Our reading this week is Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” which you can find in Vol. E of your Norton Anthology.

This week, rather than posting a list of questions for you to reflect on, I’d like you to do the following:

Choose a line or passage from the”The Death of Ivan Ilyich” that seems to you to be particularly interesting and important and share it in a comment on this post.

Once you’ve shared your quotation (and identified the page on which it appears), please do the following:

• Provide the context for your quotation.  This means sharing where this passage fits into the larger narrative.  What’s happening when this line appears?
• Share its meaning.  What do you think this quotation means?
• Discuss its significance.  Why do you think this is an important quotation? How is it related to the larger themes of “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”?

Please post your responses no later than Wednesday, November 2nd  at 2pm (i.e. before our class meeting) !!!

• Reminder: My office hours are on Mondays, during our regularly scheduled class time (2:55 – 4:35). You can drop in anytime to discuss your general progress in the course, your recent essay, or anything else that is on your mind.

In chapter one of the book, Douglass talks about age. “ I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting time, harvest time, cherry time, spring-time, or fall time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness for me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege.”(236) This quote had a great impact on me while I started reading the text. The fact that the slaves were deprived of basic ”living being” information shook me to the core. They were stripped off basic knowledge. When Douglass mentioned that why should he be deprived of basic information, it just goes to say that back then, masters thought that age is just insignificant because of the fact that knowing the actual age would add to the eruption of a conflict. 

The United States had a terrible slavery system, which the world is very well aware of. They would be tortured, tied up, and received whippings until blood started flowing from their body. This is definitely gruesome for anyone experiencing it from the other lens of view, just like Douglass was witnessing it with her Aunt Hester. Another quote that really caught my attention was, “Her arms were stretched up at their full length so that she stood upon the ends of her toes. He then said to her, “Now, you d——d b——h, I’ll learn you how to disobey my orders!”(239) and after rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cowskin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rending shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor.” This is what happened when the slaves would disobey the masters, and the masters would set an example for them. Douglass uses a very on-point writing style. It made it really interesting for me to comprehend and made me feel connected. His choice of words and the description of the scenes made me feel like I was with him witnessing the horrible acts that were done to the slaves. Nonetheless, Douglass’s writing style made it possible to reach the reader’s heart and mind.

• Believe it or not, the semester is halfway over! Please set aside some time to complete our Mid-Semester Reflection which you can find HERE. Your form should be submitted by Friday, October 28th.

• This week’s reading is Herman Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”. You can find the text in Volume E of your Norton Anthology. Melville uses a lot of words that may be unfamiliar to you, so please be sure to look them up as you read.

• In preparation for Wednesday’s class, please respond to ONE of the following questions. Your response can be shared as a comment on this post. Your response should be a minimum of 250 words and should be posted before Wednesday’s class.

1.  Explain the significance of the text’s subtitle, “a Story of Wall Street”.
2. Why do you think Bartleby refuses to perform his copying duties?
3. Whom do you sympathize with more in this narrative, Bartleby or the Narrator? Why?
4. How does power work in this story?  Who seems to have power? Why?
5. The text ends mysteriously, “Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!”  What do you think this means?

A line from Fredrick Douglass’ autobiography that was particularly interesting to me was Mr.Covey’s response to the fight they had: “Covey at length let me go, puffing and blowing at a great rate, saying that if I had not resisted, he would not have whipped me half so much. The truth was, that he had not whipped me at all.”(Douglass 268) Mr.Covey’s fear of losing his reputation is truly shown here. He could have easily called the authorities and gotten Douglass into more trouble. But instead he chose to ignore what had happened, not wanting to admit that he lost in a fight against a slave. He was a man known for his ability to break a slave, in the sense of making them feel hopeless and forever destined to serve. Having this incident be known would have tarnished that reputation and the fear of that humiliation was what kept him silent. This moment is also very significant for Douglass as he expresses that the fight with Mr.Covey was a great turning point in his life. Douglass’ stylistic choice to tell the reader when these pivotal points are taking place allows for a deeper understanding of what these outstanding moments truly meant to him. The pent up desire he had to fight back and defend himself throughout all those years of slavery was finally fulfilled at this moment. While describing the fight, Douglass said that he was reassured by the fearful responses he got from Mr.Covey. Ultimately, this fight allowed for Douglass to feel a true sense of masculinity as part of who he was. In fact, following this event, he no longer even considered himself a true slave, and firmly stated that he would rather die than let anyone else whip him. These sentiments of self respect, dignity, bravery, and strength were at this point integrated into Douglass’ identity.

On page 268, Douglass fought against Mr Covey and won. We learned how even if there is a system designed to make slaves feel powerless, slaves still hold more power then they realize. Douglass didn’t even face any consequences for fighting Mr Covey either. The reputation of Mr Covey being a slave breaker while it initially didn’t work in Douglass’ favor, this also gave Douglass more power ironically. This also served as an empowerment moment for Douglass since ”the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me.”(Douglass, 268). The spirit of rebellion that many slave holders feared now resided in Douglass. He is ready to die fighting for his freedom and that defiance is exactly what slavery tried to take away from the slaves. In a way, this feels like some some sort if enlightenment. This realization allowed Douglass to see himself as more than a slave; thus, he has the will to become a free man.

The way Douglass description of the fight can almost let me imagine the fight as I am reading. Douglass also never explicitly states the outcome either, but it is implied through how Covey asks ”take a hold of him” to Bill. Covey is the only one bleeding after the fight and is the one to retreat as well. The showing of what happened rather then being told is eloquent writing. His writing doesn’t come off as someone who never had any formal education in writing. He breaks the stereotype surrounding slaves with this very book.