Monthly Archives: October 2023

• What motivates Hedda to encourage Lovborg to resume drinking?
• Discuss the role of Thea in the play? What function does she serve?
• What role does class play in Hedda Gabler?
• What does Lovborg’s death mean to Hedda?
• Watch the first 5 or 10 minutes of this Norwegian Ballet of Hedda Gabler (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJLOXVdUouE). What observations can you make about how they have interpreted the play?
• Do you feel sympathetic to Hedda? Why or why not?

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?

Believe it or not, we have reached the halfway point of our semester! As I explained in class, both in the middle and at the end of the semester, you have an opportunity to reflect on your work in this course and to evaluate your own performance. Please set aside some time to complete your Mid-Semester Reflection no later than Wed., October 25th.

1.  What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”?  How do you know?

The narrators purpose in writing these confessions is because he wanted to control his own narrative and the reason for his shortcomings. Another purpose the narrator wrote confessions is to show the two contradictory parts of human nature of good and bad. How will one know? In the book confessions he focuses on blaming his shortcomings on the type of childhood he had growing up and how he lost his mother at a young age. Therefor, Rousseau, believes that if you had a neglected upbringing it can have a negative impact on your lifestyle.

What is the significance of the information Douglass provides about the early years of his life?

4. Explain the significance of literacy for Douglass?

Douglass’s ability to read and write has allowed him to explore a whole new universe. He meets people who feel the same way he does about slavery and the efforts taken to free the slaves. In addition, Douglass appears to use reading to grow in terms of his purpose and identity. He comes to the realization that he might not have to live as a slave forever and that he is capable of learning. Douglass claims that the path from slavery to freedom was made possible by his literacy. It is not the process of picking up reading and writing; rather, it is the realization of why it is important to keep slaves ignorant. When Master Hughs says that slaves are worthless once they learn to read and write, he is highlighting this for Douglass.

Why do you think Wordsworth gives “Tintern Abbey” such a precise and detailed sub-title? What is the significance of this poem’s full titile?

Wordsworth, in my opinion, includes such a thorough subtitle in order to highlight the location of where he composed this poem. He thought this was a secure location where he could write down whatever was on his mind without any constraints. The reader can infer from the subtitle’s level of detail the distinctions he has observed between his present perspective and his thoughts from his last visit. Compared to his prior visit, he is being more forthcoming and reflective about this location, which helps him to explain it much more effectively.

Hello everyone my name is Richard Suriel, and I am from the Dominican Republic. I am a transfer student studying Aviation and majoring at Baruch in CIS: data analytics. I’m very entrepreneurial and like many trying to become professional and one day will have my own business.

My past education: I came from Aviation High School in Queens where I learned to fix and build planes for the Airlines, however I then realized I wanted to do more of the flying than just mechanic. I play the piano and trumpet and played baseball since freshman year in varsity High School all the way till my previous college at BMCC.

I love to travel as a way to relax and reset, since I discovered the power of points on credit cards I normally tend to travel 3 times a year spontaneously ( who wouldn’t want to). I’m very analytical specially in ways where I am in new territory, something that I apply naturally while traveling, I have a youtube page with like 10 subscribers and a tiktok page with over 30k followers where I can display my passion for travel but more specifically the industry of aviation. Something else I do on my off time to better productivity is going to the gym. Most of the time when it comes to college its easy to become lazy and the gym gets my blood moving a bit to be able to get to work when I have to.

Some of my favorite childhood ties that brought me to be who I am are “dexter’s laboratory” one of my favorite shows to watch when I was younger and based off what I can remember inspired my creativity.

1. What is the significance of the information Douglass provides about the early years of his life?
2. What does he mean, on p.238, when he describes the first whipping he witnessed as, “the blood-stained gate”?
3. What have you learned from reading this narrative that you didn’t already know about slavery in America?
4. Explain the significance of literacy for Douglass?
5. How does Douglass feel about Southern Christianity? Why?
6. Where does slavery persist in our own contemporary world? Give an example.

 What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”?  How do you know?

The narrator wants to use these “confessions” as a look back at his own life and to alter how society and other people perceive him. By reading the book, I was able to determine the narrator’s motivations as “confessions” is an autobiography of his life that was released after his passing. The enlightenment is still being embraced by people in the 18th century, albeit it is not yet fully accepted. Because the narrator is Catholic and holds religious beliefs, he wrote about his own personal life in all of its details. In this situation, he is confessing his wrongdoing and asking for forgiveness to everyone. As an illustration, he had a difficult childhood, no mother, and is involved in adultery with a mistress in the novel. Overall, the book is depressing and details his miserable life and poor decisions. In order to relieve the burden of his guilt via confession or religious belief, he gave his book the title “confessions” and included all of his transgressions as well as his life’s accomplishments in it.