Literature of the Picaresque

Month: September 2016

Alijon Rahmatov on The Swindler

                The swindler

    This works was interesting to me, because I found lot of similarities between this work and the novel “The life of Lazarillo de Tormes”. Don Pablo, the protagonist from ” The swindler” reminds me young Lazarillo from “Lazarillo de Tormes”. He is an innocent and foolish boy like Lazarillo who has to deal with difficulties of live from young age. His parents like Lazarillos have to do whatever they can in order to support their family. When Lazarillo learned his survival skills from his masters, Don’s first teachers were his parents. “If you don’t thief you won’t eat”.When his father teaches  him how to steal, his mother teaches how to be a witch. In addition, authors of both works criticize Spanish society. “Sometimes they throw us out of town, and other times they whip us or hang us.” Here the authors message was to illustrate cruelty of society towards poor people like Dons family.

Essay #1 First Draft – Due 10/5

***** BRING 3 COPIES OF YOUR ESSAY!*****

First draft due on Wednesday, October 5th (10/5):

Bring 3 copies

4-5 pages/ 1200 – 1500 words. Double-spaced.

Each draft should have a Cover Letter attached. See below for details.

Your paper should follow the “Claims, Evidence, Analysis” style we have practiced.

You should use MLA formatting.

Questions to answer on your Cover Letter:

Draft #1

Describe what you were hoping to prove. What was the central thesis you arrived at? Where in the essay (on what page) did you best manage to make this main point? How did your ideas develop or unfold? What do you think you need to work on as you revise?

Reading Assignment #8

1.

The first of two short readings for our class on Wednesday can be found here. Please read the first three chapters of the novel, Simplicissimus. It was written in German, in 1668, by Hans Jacob von Grimmelshausen. I will attach a supplementary reading about the historical period in question here.

2.

The second reading will be the opening pages of the novel, The Swindler. It was written in Spanish, in 1604, by Francisco de Quevedo. You can download the pdf here. (Apologies for the awkward formatting.)

 

Waiting for Godot

Rose Porfido

ENG 2850

Professor Peer

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

 

A tragicomedy is plainly defined as a story that blends the genres of comedy and of tragedy.  This is a balance of positive and negative, of optimism and pessimism, it is a gray area.  While Waiting for Godot does have its optimistic and pessimistic moments, it is not meant to be defined in terms of “good” and “bad”.  I believe that Samuel Beckett wanted the reader to question something beyond good and bad; something in another gray area; their own reality.  Waiting for Godot is not meant to have a positive or negative meaning or interpretation, or supposed to make the reader feel happy or sad for Didi and Gogo.  It is meant to have the reader question and define reality.

There is a moment in the play when Vladimir questions what is real.  Estragon and Vladimir can remember things that happened that Pozzo and the Boy cannot remember, but it seems that Vladimir is the only one who questions it.  After they meet Pozzo and Lucky the first time, Didi and Gogo discuss how no one they meet ever recognizes them  (39).  Again, in act II, Pozzo doesn’t remember meeting the pair the day before and Vladimir seems surprised by this (79-80). He brings it up to Gogo and he seems a little confused, as if he didn’t give it much thought (80).  Vladimir says “Was I sleeping, while the others suffered?  Am I sleeping now?  Tomorrow, when I wake, or think I do, what shall I say of today” (81).  It appears that Vladimir is aware of something strange going on in his world.

Estragon and Vladimir seem to be reliving the same day in both acts.  It is unclear what kind of a reality they are living in and it is hinted that Vladimir may start to become aware of it.  The author may be suggesting the readers to question their own reality.  What was real to Vladimir and Estragon may not be real to us as readers, and what is real to us individually may not be real to someone else.

What makes this work so unique is that it is purposely meant to be vague so that it has no clear meaning.  A clear setting was left out of this play, something that defines a big part of a story, as well as descriptions that may guide the reader as to how to visualize what is going on.  It is so vague that the story itself is completely lacking- the story and the characters never get anywhere and there is no plot or storyline.

Waiting for Godot is entirely subjective.  The way it is interpreted is based on the reader (or actor).  Whether it is optimistic or pessimistic is to be determined by each reader and their own perspective and experience with it.  Beckett’s intention was to keep this play open to interpretation.  Beckett devised Waiting for Godot to be so unclear because he didn’t want to lead the reader to think a certain way or leave the reader with his biased perspective.  He wants readers to create that for themselves.

What is Samuel Becket trying to say about the concept of reality?  What is the point of writing a story that is totally subjective?

Draft Thesis Paragraph and Outline – Due Mon. 9/26

For our next class, Monday September 26th, please write a draft thesis paragraph and essay outline for Essay Assignment 1. The outline template that I showed you in class can be found here.

You may use the template directly, or you may write a traditional outline, if you choose. Please write in complete sentences.

Just a note: You do not need to do any outside research for this assignment. All of your evidence should come from the texts that we have read together.

Waiting For Godot – Act II

Act II of Waiting For Godot sparked many interest in me, from the interchangeable characters from act I to act II, and the fact that time has no real value in the play.  Throughout the book, Vladimir and Estragon, continue to lay waste their day waiting for Godot who never comes, recalling on the days in the past and not remembering when or if they actually ever occurred. For example, in the beginning of Act II on page 51, Vladimir tries to make Estragon remember Pozzo and Lucky from the day before with no relief. Estragon only vaguely remembers a person kicking him, and someone giving him bones to eat, but cannot recall if it had just happened the day before. Vladimir and Estragon live each day almost eactly the same, throwing off their sense of time. Because of this, it is hard to know if the events in the play actually occurred the day before, or a few days or even weeks before.

Another interest of mine was how in the beginning of Act II, Estragon was went from being helpless without Vladimir, to being the person with power for a short time near the end. Estragon states more than once that Vladimir and him would be better off without each other. For example the bottom of page 49, Estragon states “You see, you feel worst when I am with you. I feel better alone too.” Although Estragon was trying to get away from Vladimir, he relied mostly on him to survive, such as for food and sanity. Without Vladimir around to feed him, or talk him out of suicide, Estragon would not have survived as alone as he has. Near the ending of the play, on page 72, Vladimir who once was in control was now in need of help from Estragon to get up, while Estragon now how the power to assist.  This was interesting to me because Estragon made many assumption through the play that he would be of no help to Vladimir, and to be alone would be best for both of them. In reality, the both of them needed each other to survive physically, mental, and emotionally.