Franz Kafka is known for creating disturbed and unsettling literary art; something uncomfortable that would cut through the ice. In The Judgement, Kafka introduces an unnamed character in St. Petersburg who is living an unstable life while his childhood acquaintance in Prague, Georg Bendemann, sends him letters of inconsequential news. The friend may represent one of Kafka’s identities and throughout the whole story, the relationship between the unnamed friend and Georg seem to be blurred. Kafka insinuates that there are multiple sides to a person and that every single being will never be identical; one cannot judge a person based on stability.

The unnamed friend is the opposite of Georg and he had virtually fled away from Prague to this foreign country with no real ties and social dealings in the local colony of St. Petersburg. The act of fleeing away from home is the result to a new life and experience. The friend was discontented with his development at home so he discovered Russia and isolated himself. Kafka can relate to this in his writing and he isolated himself from the outside world and decided to compose a literary work in one night.

The friend is characterized to have a disease that nears his death at such a young age.
“..whose sallow complexion seemed to indicate a developing disease.” (57)
“…your friend is going to the dogs in his Russia, three years ago he was already yellow enough to be dumped out,..” (71)
His disease may have occurred during his stay at St. Petersburg and this embodies a sign of weakness and that the end is near. Living in St. Petersburg becoming a bachelor for good depicts that there is no progress with his life. The experience he wanted to encounter was a complete downfall due to his own business stagnating. The full exotic beard and his poorly concealing face indicates that he is not taking care of himself and is slowly letting himself go. Maybe he does not have the strength and power to succeed because he needs to have someone to depend on. The reason Georg did not mention his fiancee to him was because he may be envious of him or feel pressured. The friend was struggling to live by himself while Georg was this man of stability and success. Although you can question Georg’s superego because the power of his father’s words had led to his own downfall.
“So now you know what else there was in the world besides you, previously you only knew about yourself! You were truly an innocent child, but you were even more truly a diabolical man! And therefore know: I hereby condemn you to death by drowning!” (71)

Kafka explains the judgement of the two men reflected in this story. You cannot judge a man by his own success of living because every being is significantly differential. Georg having a fiancee and a successful business gave him the ability to have a stable life but his moral sense had overpowered him when he committed suicide. The friend living an unstable life in Russia lacks motivation for success due to his fleeing away from home, the health condition he encounters and his isolation from others. One cannot be successful without the help and support of others.

“Hot guys of summer.” “Hot guys and hot models.” “Emojis, hearts, crushes, and pink.” Once I saw the collage, everything about it was screaming HOT. By just looking at these pictures, you can immediately think of various topics and not just one. It can represent sex, desire, passion, etc. But then I see an image of a pizza, an avocado, and a plane soaring through the clouds and from that I immediately think that this can relate to Global Warming. The gradual increase in temperature and climate change. A pizza is round so it can represent the earth’s shape. The avocado has an egg in the middle which can represent earth’s core. The plane soaring through the clouds shows us the atmospheric pressure. Pictures can have a thousand meanings and that is why you cannot just put a simple word or definition to these images.

The collage was colorful and everything seemed to be pasted in all places. There was no uniform way or style of putting the images together. The one bold thing that stood out was the word HOT. The mystery word may deal with the word hot and I believe it is the main clue to the mystery.

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” an expression or quote that a simple image can convey so many ideas. It can tell us a story without using words. The idea of visualization allows us to freely express our thoughts in our minds. There is no right or wrong answer because visual art is made to be looked at a thousand different ways.

Realism is having the ability to accept the understanding of realization in reality and your surroundings. In A Simple Heart, Felicite was a character of simplicity and her mind was focused both on fantasy and imaginations to having a realization of reality. She would think about the clouds and horses running up in the sky but people would talk her out of her imagination and bring her back to the real world. Tragic losses occur with Felicite like the death of her nephew Victor from yellow fever, Virginie from her weak immune system that causes her death, and her parrot Loulou that was stuffed by a taxidermist and kept with her forever. She accepted these losses and moved on correspondingly. Flaubert, the author, described Felicite as a very dull and monotonous character but she lived her life and accepted everything that was brought to her way. She perfected her job as a servant for Mme Aubain and she never tried to step out of her box and achieve better opportunities due to her social class.

Naturalism is based on something scientific and philosophical. People have their own moral values and mentalities which they react in their own way in their own environment. In the literary text, Hedda Gabler, Hedda was manipulating Tesman and the others. Her actions toward certain situations can be seen as immoral. She is defined to be a negative person and she destroys things she cannot accept. For example her pregnancy, burning Lovborg’s manuscripts, sabotaging Tesman, and bullying Thea. She tries to overpower herself and everyone around her. This is due to the reality that she faces. Her committing suicide was her natural way of dealing with her situation. She did not want to face having a scandal that will ruin her reputation and how society will see her so she ends her life. The freedom of taking your own life is something deep and strong that Hedda sees as something beautiful. She could not handle the strong forces of her environment and her surroundings. She has plenty of thoughts running through her mind and she has trouble accepting it. Her decision of ending her life was something she accepted and wanted for a long time.

Realism and Naturalism can be both seen in a positive and negative way. People develop this notion in their minds of how they consider to react in certain situations. Their actions and behaviors are established in their own environment and surroundings. One is seen to be a mirror of reality and an understanding of a particular issue while the other is more of a natural action described in detail of a situation based on environmental forces that can be affected philosophically.

This poem by Emily Dickinson is focused about the power of the human brain and its function. She indicates a mass of imagery in her writing and uses dashes to create an emphasis. The brain is a powerful tool for humans and without it we will not exist.

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—

For—put them side by side—

The one the other will contain

With ease—and You—beside—

Dickinson makes a metaphor of the brain and the sky and describes how vast it can mentally be. Every brain is intellectually unique in its own way and people would push the limits to see how much power they can consume. Intelligence can be built over time and eventually it will grow. Although intelligence is not always the reason for a powerful brain but imagination is limitless. The mind is filled with an infinite amount of imaginations wider than a sky. Even the most beautiful sunsets or the aurora borealis cannot compare to the human brain. If you have ever looked at a human brain physically, the organ itself is intricate and delicate but it can control your whole body.

The Brain is deeper than the sea—

For—hold them—Blue to Blue—

The one the other will absorb—

As Sponges—Buckets—do—

“The Brain is deeper than the sea—,” accentuates that it can absorb so much information deeper than the sea. It connects with the title, “The Brain—is wider than the Sky—.” Blue to Blue represents the color of the ocean and the sky. The ocean is dense and filled with many sea creatures in various shapes and sizes. Dickinson compares the brain’s power to absorb information to a sponge. A sponge has the ability to absorb liquid in a full bucket and so does the function of the brain. We can absorb ideas and information to create this dense sea of imaginations and fantasy. As humans we take in new information and relate it to the outside world. We try to understand different meanings and phrases that can relate to life. Reading a poem, quote, or novel can change a person’s perspective of life and that is the power of literature and its connections with the brain.

The Brain is just the weight of God—

For—Heft them—Pound for Pound—

And they will differ—if they do—

As Syllable from Sound—

Dickinson states that, “The Brain is just the weight of God—.” This comparison is strong because she uses the “father and creator of heaven and Earth,” to describe the brain. She does not say the brain is more powerful than God but she mentions that it has equal power. The brain can be similar to God and his creations but do they differ? She states that they differ like “syllable from sound.” A sound can be anything you can imagine such as the sound of nature, rain, or an instrument. A syllable is more configured to a unit of organization of a sequence of words. The brain is structured and precise while God is seen to be of a more spiritual thought of nature. Dickinson was very rebellious over God because in her childhood she was “conflicted and ambivalent over Christian orthodoxy that she resisted Puritan attitudes around her.”

Emily Dickinson is an interesting poet because as she was living, she did not want any of her poems published. She said that, “Publication—is the Auction / Of the Mind of Man.” Being isolated in her own home was more favorable to her than exploring the outside world. She wanted to keep her poems to herself because it intrigued her. The creation of great poetry can satisfy ones mind and so Dickinson cherished every work she did to herself.

The French colony of Saint Domingue, western part of the Caribbean islands, was known to be the treasure of the French empire due to its rich source of sugar, coffee, tobacco and cotton along with five hundred thousand slaves. The cultivation of various resources had produced wealth to France. The French Revolution had abolished their hierarchal system and the people of Saint Domingue fought for freedom and equality. Toussaint L’Ouverture was the leader whom the people followed and he joined the French Republic to take down the British and Spanish. He succeeded by abolishing slavery but was captured by Napoleon and died a year later. Jean-Jacques Dessalines took charge and defeated the French troops to proclaim a new nation which he called Haiti. Dessalines had created an official document called the “Liberty or Death” Proclamation which stated the crimes of the French and his countrymen’s duty of vengeance.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines was the leader of the Haitian Revolution and created the independent new nation Haiti. He described the slave trade as a “cannibalistic consumption of fellow human beings.” The eighteenth century was defined to be the century of economic and political change throughout the world and trade was the important aspect of power. Authorities would gather as many slaves to work fourteen to sixteen hour shifts in the fields and it was hectic because of the working conditions and maltreatment to the people. Dessalines targeted an international audience of his proclamation to announce his relentless determination. He was assassinated in 1806 and was known for his horrifying autocratic rule and eagerness to be brutal in battle but his commitment of power to fight against oppressors.

“Liberty or Death” is a strong piece of work because it antagonizes the French. The words used in this document is brutal and blood thirsty. You can feel the anger of Dessalines by reading his piece and how much he wants vengeance against the French. The French had treated the people of Saint Domingue poorly and abused people of color and the lower class. They gave corporal punishment to those who fought against their rule. The labor was back breaking and strenuous that people were dying. They used the resources of Saint Domingue and its people to become wealthy and its inhumane to treat the people there like slaves. Dessalines states that, “Yes, we have rendered to these true cannibals war for war, crime for crime, outrage for outrage; Yes, I have saved my country, I have avenged America.” He associated the revolution of the enslaved African Americans mass destruction of natives as a common battle against European invasion and slavery. Dessalines also states that, “Never again shall a colonist or a European set his foot upon this territory with the title of master or proprietor.” His motto stood for “Liberty! Independence!” which was the nations rallying cry.

Dessalines was a very powerful man and I think that it was right for him to convey his message. He fought for the freedom of the people and has undergone brutal battles against the Europeans. His proclamation can be seen as a threat to those who want to conquer Saint Domingue. Even if his words sound too harsh and cruel he really explained the power of his fight and retribution in detail. He could have been more professional with his thoughts and leave the violence out of the picture but he decided to punish those who punished them. As general governor he has the power to enact laws and so he ruled his country with determination.

Haiti in present day has changed over the years but it is seen to be the poorest nation in the Americas due to decades of poverty, environmental deterioration, violence, weakness and dictatorship. Many Haitians have migrated out of their country to the Dominican Republic and the United States for better life and stable jobs. The country of Haiti is corrupted because of various social justice issues and the government is weak to control every complication. The outbreak of Cholera has been recently targeted in Haiti and this adds up to their problematic situations. Although progress of having freedom and independence was a benefit but Haiti being the first independent Caribbean state has led to a downfall.