In “The Judgment” by Franz Kafka, the relationship between Georg and the friend develops throughout the whole story. I believe the role of the friend in St. Petersburg is to represent the fact that things do not always end up the way the individual would like it to.

In the beginning of the story, I questioned what was the purpose of the friend, and what was his obligation to his friend? However, now I believe the idea that Kafka used this friend was to show how superior he was to his friend, but how he was still in a way the loser at the end of the story. For example, the friend was described as one who was “dissatisfied with his progress at home, had virtually fled to Russia many years ago. Now in St. Petersburg, he was running a business… appeared to have been stagnating for quite a while” (57), where as Georg business “had quite unexpectedly prospered during those two years, they had had to double the staff, sales had quintupled, and further growth, was no doubt, just around the corner” (60). Based off these two quotes, the readers can see the clear difference between the two characters. The friend is not successful in a foreign country, where Georg is a huge hit in his hometown. This shows how superior Georg is. Another example that shows Georg superiority is when it states that the friend “having no real ties with the local colony of his compatriots and almost no social dealings with native families, he was settling in to become a bachelor for good” (58), but Georg “had gotten engaged one month ago to a Fraulein Frieda Brandenfeld, a girl from a well-to-do family” (60). Here, the readers can also notice that the friend seems to be an isolated person, not really having an form of social ties, whereas Georg is getting married and is basically entering a binding contract for the rest of his life. From these two examples, it shows a sense that Georg is superior to his friend. His life is definite, where he was successful and getting married, where his friend’s life is more blurry, where he is not succeeding, lonely, and living in another country. Even though I believe that the role of the friend is to show how inferior he is to Georg, it also leads to the idea that even though Georg is more successful than his friend, he did not win at the end. In the end, the father reveals that the friend “knows everything! I’ve been writing to him because you forgot to take away my writing things…he crumples up your letters in his left hand without reading them while he holds up my letters in his right hand to read them” (70)! But, on the other hand, George “leaped from the front door and dashed across the roadway, driven toward the water” (72). This just goes to show that even though Georg’s life seem better in the beginning with his happy career, and family, he ended up committing suicide at the end, whereas the friend who seemed to be at rock bottom, actually knew everything and could not be fooled by Georg. This leads readers to believe that you cannot take anything for granted in the beginning because things do not always end up how it seems. There is no definite ending that can be assumed until it actually happens, and there could be no limit placed on the infinite amount of opportunities existing. People must understand that life is full of endless possibilities and that no one will ever know how it will end.

When looking at the other group’s collage, I saw many pictures that were related to sex and relationships. One image that clearly depicted this topic was the first image, where there was a man and a woman in bed, which the caption “Let’s go!” Then from the second image, I saw a woman with a photographer next to her with the word “Fantasy” over her image. Based on the third image, I saw two men fighting over a woman. The fourth image showed a woman who was pregnant. These pictures, although all were put in different contexts, they all had one thing in common, which was some sort of sexual activity. However, besides the idea that they all represent sex, I thought these images specified how society views sex today. It has changed from traditional views and can be portrayed in many different ways. For example, from the picture that has a man in bed with the words “Sex” and “Brothel” over his picture, automatically reminded me of Lamar Odom. This Ex-NBA player was found unconscious in a brothel, where it was reported that he had every drug possible in his system. There are all different meanings and it cannot really be rooted back to one definition in today’s society. Analyzing these pictures made me think about the fact that in today’s world, it is hard to set one definition for everything since it would limit it so much. Therefore, like Gordian’s knot, you cannot use one definition to slice the knot in half, but instead, the definition will remain a knot, with all different possibilities.

Realism aims at seeing reality as a mirror. This is that what we see is what is really happening. One of the major themes for realism is objective thought. This is the idea where we see the world as it is and accept it like that. There is no subjectivity involved and it is straight to the point. Another major theme is social realities, which is heavily portrayed through social classes. There were different social classes and this too was objective. You were from your social class and there was no question to it. One example of realism from the text “A Simple Heart” is portrayed through the character Felicite, the maid of the family. Felicite had no power trying to force Virigne to stay at home. She could not influence Madame Aubain’s choices. Also, No longer did maids give such open ideas and play such a big role within the family, like in Tartuffe. Instead, Felicite, like another maids, knew their role. When looking at Virgine and Felicite’s relationship, Fecilite knew that when Virgine came back home and grew up, Felicite had to respect her as a “Madame” since they were on different social levels. Felicite was a part of the lower working class and she knew that the boundaries of her role have changed. She could not play such a motherly figure to Virgine anymore. This shows that Felicite was the maid, and nothing more. She was simply a lower class citizen, and no matter how close she was to Virgine before, there can be no chance of that now just because society sees Fecilite as nothing more than a worker. The world view during this time was that everything was real and straight forward, no questions asked. It is what it is.

Naturalism aims at being realer than realism. This is that realism was not real enough, and people must go beyond that. People are trying to explain why things happened, compared to realism, where it was objective and everything that happened, just happened. One of the major themes for naturalism is everything being in its natural form in a sense. This is that how have things come about and even why has this happened. Another theme is forces driving the naturalism further, as to what is causing these things to happen. In the text “Hedda Gabbler,” Hedda’s character plays a big role in what naturalism aims to explain. She, for one, was able to commit suicide. This shows how because death is a part of life, she choose to kill herself. This idea of choice shows that it was not just because Hedda wanted to die, but there were reasons beyond her suicide, such as not wanting to be caught in a scandal. Also, within the story, there is a noticeable social class gap between Hedda, and her husband, George. For George to please his wife, he would need to get her a fancy house, buy her a new piano, where everything was materialistic. However, George comes from a lower class who is fond of the memories a pair of slippers bring him, where this means nothing to Hedda. The gap between their social classes shows that the social realities are very strong. It was shown that because of their difference among social classes, this caused Hedda to be so bored and want to manipulate people all the time. The worldview during this time was that everything had a reason behind it and would influence something else in the future. It was almost in a sense natural for Hedda not to get along with George.

While doing a close reading on the poem After Death by Christina Rossetti, I have came up with many thoughts in order to attempt to capture the message she is conveying.

Based on the first four lines:

The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept

And strewn with rushes, rosemary and may

Lay thick upon the bed on which I lay

Where thro’ the lattice ivy-shadows crept.

Because of the curtains half drawn, there is not that much light being let in. The floor was swept, therefore everything was neat and tidy. However, there were rushes, rosemary and may all over the bed that the person is laying on. This paints a picture in my head of a sad place like a funeral home. This word may stands out to me because it symbolizes death. The word bed also stands out to me because I believe it symbolizes a casket. Based on these three lines, I can imagine a wake going on at a funeral home, where everything is sad but organized waiting for people to arrive.

Then in the next five lines:

He leaned above me, thinking that I slept

And could not hear him; but I heard him say:

“Poor child, poor child”: and as he turned away

Came a deep silence, and I knew he wept.

I think that this man is one of the people that are attending this wake at a funeral. I believe here the man comes up to the bed on which the person is laying, dead. Because he has a lot of sympathy for this person, and unable to withhold the cries, he cries. Based on this information, I think that this man is of much importance to this person’s life. However, I find the word slept interesting in this context because this person is not sleeping, but is dead, so using this word was quite confusing.

After in the next three lines:

He did not touch the shroud, or raise the fold

That hid my face, or take my hand in his,

Or ruffle the smooth pillows for my head:

Here, I feel like the man is sad because he is feeling sympathetic and upset because this person is laying there dead, in front of his own eyes. However, he does not show his sympathy in any actions. He does cry, but he does not take the person’s hand or touch the shroud, which is a piece of cloth used to wrap the buried person.

In the last three lines:

He did not love me living; but once dead

He pitied me; and very sweet it is

To know he still is warm tho’ I am cold.

I think that the man does not show sympathy, like hold this person’s hand or ruffle the smooth pillows for my head and therefore does not love this person. Only when this person is dead, he pities this person. At the end, this person is dead, but will die with the thought of knowing the man is sweet and warm. I feel like these three lines convey the ultimate message of the poem, which is that you do not know what you have until it is gone. Sometimes, people take things for granted, but when we do not have that thing anymore, we feel bad and want it back. Applying that here, the man did not love this person when alive but when this person died, he cared and even wept at the end when seeing this person dead. Death is a powerful event that breaks people down, but sometimes are able to bring relationships closer. Like in this case, the man was very sad that this person died, and the person felt closer to the man because he or she knew his real feelings. Also, in these last three lines, I think that the person is getting a sense of closure symbolically. This is because this person is laying on his or her death bed, knowing that this man did not love him or her. However, now that this person is dead, and the man has come to the funeral home, crying in front of the person, this person is able to now know that he feels sorry for this person and he is really is nice and does care for him or her. I put symbolically because we are unable to know if the person really did feel his presence by her spirit or if it is just a symbol to show the difference in people before and after death.

This text Declaration of Sentiments is written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This text is basically a declaration responding to the Declaration of Independence, stating that all men and women were created equal, and not just all men were created equal, like what was stated in the Declaration of Independence. This text’s goal was for women to be given access to all her rights that men were given and that they be seen as equals. This text was written during 1848 during the time that was called the “Springtime of the Peoples.” During this time in history, there was many outbreaks that led to a revolutionary contagion across Europe and Americas. According to the Merrian Webster dictionary, contagion, is described as an “influence that spreads rapidly.” According to this, it can be known that during this time, the revolution was growing and many changes were developing around Europe and Americas. As America was developing stronger as an independent country, it was an opportunity allowing Stanton to speak her mind about Women’s Rights, hoping like the other outbreaks, would spread rapidly as well.

The author of this text is Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Stanton was one of the female leaders of the Women’s Rights Movement. The reason behind this text is rooted back to the World Anti-Slavery Convention is 1840. As a abolitionist, Stanton and another female delegate named Lucretia Mott were not allowed to speak at the convention just because they were women. Because this convention they were attending was trying to achieve freedom for all, and human rights to all including slaves, stating that slaves should be treated as equals, it made them mad that like slaves, they were not given the right or freedom that every person rightfully deserved. Stanton felt that if all men were created equal, stating that slaves should be given the rights they were entitled to, women should be given these rights as well. This led Stanton to create the Declaration of Sentiments and present it to everyone at Seneca Falls in 1848.

The main argument of the Declaration of Sentiments is that all women should have the same freedom and rights given to them as the men do. Women deserve these rights that are inalienable which include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. During this time, women were being deprived of the rights and were oppressed in society. This was not acceptable, and women should be given the same rights as men since they were entitled to these rights, being that they were citizens of America.

I believe the strong parts of this text was when Stanton stated examples of how men have always had power over the women and women had no choice to exercise her freedom. One strong point that Stanton explained was how men took all the property and the wages that were owned by the women. Another strong point that Stanton explained was that men denied women any chance at getting a good education. The last strong point that Stanton stated was that if the married couple would happen to get divorced, the men were fully entitled to decide who shall have the guardianship of children, where the law left all the power in the hands of the men. These points that Stanton explained helped give listeners and followers of the Women’s Right Movement an overall idea of how women had no power, and men were in control of the lives of women. I believe that these are strong points because it shows different examples throughout life. Not only did women not have control of the things they owned, but they also could not obtain things they wanted. Also, the last one is strong because it shows that even though a mother gave life to her children, the men still are in control of the faith of the children, if they were ever to get divorced. These examples allow everyone to realize how much domination men had and hope that people would come to the realization that women should have the same rights as men and be on an equal playing field.

I think the weak parts from this text is that Stanton did not explain as much as to how women’s voices were important politically. Stanton had described that women had no voice, or they had no representation in legislation, but I feel like that was already known. I believe that she could have made a stronger point, maybe by using her real life example at the time she was at the World Anti-Slavery Convention, or getting women to speak up about how they feel. I think this would have made the point stronger because men and people of the Women’s Right Movement already know all about that fact that women do not have a voice or cannot vote, but they do not know the effect that it has caused women. The reason that people oppose Stanton’s idea is because people just see men’s domination over women as the right way to go. However, I believe that if they heard about how it really affected the lives of women, it would have a stronger influence on them, making them realize that it is wrong that men and women are not equal.

The text is successful in conveying its message. This is because it is straight to the point and laid out clearly for people to understand. It starts off by stating that women should be entitled to the same rights that men are. Then, it provides real life examples of how women currently do not have the same rights as men because men dominate. Lastly, it wraps up by stating that the women want to be equal as men and will use all their power to achieve their goal. I think the text conveys it message really well because it gives strong points, and helps people try to understand how women should be equal as men.

Looking back from today, a lot of progress has been made. Women’s suffrage has been achieved, women have been given the rights that they deserve like life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and women are treated as equals as men. So much progress has been made that it seems weird to think that women were under the control of men and it seems almost unrealistic. However, in today’s society, there are still forms of how women are not exactly equal to men, a lot of progress has been made during the time Stanton had published the Declaration of Sentiments. For example, before when women were denied the right to get a good education, nowadays, the amount of women getting an education is greater than the number of men getting an education. Another example is that before the men were entitled to determine who would be the guardian of the child if they were to get a divorce, nowadays, the court is the judge of that, after evidence of who is suited to be a better parent for the child. Men are no longer entitled to the way women think and act. Women have the power to do as they want, just as men do.