Great Works of Literature II, Fall 2019 (hybrid) HTA

How does Joyce change your expectations as a reader throughout the story? e.g. your idea of what the story is about and what kind of story you are reading might have changed at a few points throughout the story.

When I started reading the story “ The Dead” I thought that Gabrial and his wife were going to visit his aunts, and it sounds as if it was a family visit. it states that “On the sideboard were arrayed dishes and plates, and glasses and bundles of knives and forks and spoons. The top of the closed square piano served also as a sideboard for viands and sweets. At a smaller sideboard in one corner two young men were standing, drinking hop-bitters”. However, this changed the way I thought about the story it is not just a family visit but it is a party and there are more characters at the party. I also thought that Gretta loved her husband and the fact that she was with him at the party made me think that they are together and they love each other. By the end of the story, I changed the way I thought about their relationship. When Gretta starts telling Gabrial about Michael it makes me think as a reader that she is with Gabrial but she also thinks about Michael the whole time, because of one song she could not hold herself and she cried. That made me realized that she still wishes if Michael was still alive even though she’s with Gabrial. Throughout the story my expectations kept changing but also these changes explained more about these characters. 

In this story , Chekhov has depicted many important situations and possibility which may happen for anybody at any stage of the life. For instance, Dmitri’s capacity about his self knowledge, or the other way around his knowledge about his capacity. Dmitri is someone who has a luxurious, personality always seeking for pleasure do not quire respect women but cannot live without them either. On the other hand Anna a young beautiful lady, who does not have a good relationship with her husband and feels that vacuum seriously in her life. This situation makes it easy for both to emerge in an unplanned relation. however, things do not turn to be what Dmitri had thought. Dmitri had thought that he is on a vacation by himself a beautiful woman available for him whom he could spend his time with. In contrast, Dmitri for the first time in his life falls in love with a woman and that changes his entire life. Dmitri a guy who never hides anythings from anybody has to hide the biggest secret in his life. He had never thought that one day he would miss a specific woman. All Dmitri’s changes of thoughts especially his thoughts about women, indicates his capacity of his self knowledge. He did not know all those things could happen in duration of a week. This story specifically Emphasizes on many important aspects such as: change of thought, love with age difference, safe shelter(heart), lack of self knowledge, hiding your real life and many secrets. It also significantly describes the importance of inner happiness over the materialistic life and luxurious life.

Joyce changes one’s expectations by subtly shifting the narrative from one character to another. He starts out the story by focusing on Lily and describing the apparent rush that she’s in trying to do various things. Based on this it seems that the story will be focusing on Lily and possibly her life as the housemaid. But then Joyce shifts the story onto the Misses Morkans and their party. From this transition I figured that an issue might arise from the party affecting the three sisters, but as the story progresses it then shifts onto Gabriel. As the story starts to focus more and more on Gabriel it becomes apparent that he’s submissive in thought and emotional expression. Knowing and starting to understand his personality based on his interactions at the party foreshadow how this could be an issue later on in the story, of which it is. Once the party comes to an end the story shifts focus from solely Gabriel and onto his wife, Gretta, as well. While I wasn’t expecting Gretta to reveal the love she still had for the guy from her hometown, it did add an interesting twist to the story. This twist also being one that mentally and emotionally challenges Gabriel in a certain way because of his personality.

How does Joyce change your expectations as a reader throughout the story? e.g. your idea of what the story is about and what kind of story you are reading might have changed at a few points throughout the story.

As a reader, I have to say I was surprised and confused at the same time. Joyce seemingly weaved out a plot twist throughout the entirety of this story. The author began the story with Lily, a side character, instead of introducing the protagonist first. The author mentioned the protagonist: Gabriel, about a quarter way into the story, which made it confusing to determine who was actually the intended protagonist of her story. While reading the story, my initial thought was that Gabriel must have been an intelligent man and he lived a happy married life. However, the events that followed turned out to be almost the complete opposite of my original thought. Quite frankly, Gabriel was not a sociable person and he seldom cares about others’ feelings. To some extent, he has trouble comforting others because he feels that if he continues the conversation it would only worsened the situation. Gretta, Gabriel’s wife, was not an innocent and caring wife like she seems to be. Toward the end of the story, she unfold her unfortunate past to Gabriel. This part of the story was shocking to both Gabriel and the readers because Joyce depicted Gretta as a loyal and devoted wife. However, this event lead to the downfall of the couple. Gretta had always love Michael, a man who passed away due to a tragic event. Gabriel was more or less a replacement of Michael, but he wasn’t aware of that until the end of the story. I was expecting a more well-rounded or joyful ending; it didn’t turn out like I hoped for. Lastly, Joyce added different turning points within the story, which made the overall community seem like a dystopia society.

~ Neo

What is the relationship between the living and the dead in the story? How does Gabriel’s speech relate to his realization at the end of the story?

Throughout the story, he living think about the dead constantly. Gabriel wants the dead to remain in the past. He gives the speech to remind everyone that reminiscing is not what they should do. After thinking about Michael Fuery’s death, Gabriel starts to feel somber. In the end, he realizes that once he is dead, the living will forget about him just like he insists they forget about all the deceased.

How and why does Hurston use dialect in the story? Note that the characters’ speech and the narrator’s are in different dialects, with the former being Southern African-American speech and the latter being more traditionally grammatical American English, and so the story has two registers of diction.

It is very noticeable and clear that Hurston uses both South African-American dialect when the characters speak and traditionally grammatical American English during the narration. Hurston intentionally switched between two dialects for many reasons. First, adding a dialect brings liveliness to the story. It adds voice to the characters, making the story seem more realistic and bringing it to life. Because of this, “The Gilded Six-Bits” could easily be a true story. This helps readers relate to it more, as it makes the characters of the story become more human-like rather than just characters made up by Hurston. Another reason Hurston uses dialect is because dialect is often used to say phrases that do not mean the same in another dialect. For example, “making feet for shoes” is quoted with the South African-American dialect and it wouldn’t give the same feeling if it was directly translated in American English. Some phrases in a dialect are more meaningful when phrased with a dialect rather than translating it. The use of South African-American dialect also emphasizes that their culture was a little different, making the story more unique than if it was all written in American English. Hurston’s use of dialects added to the story and made it more lively and interesting.

The obvious tragedy in this story seems to be that Mrs. Anerton fell in love with Rendle and was never loved back regardless of how she tried to twist the facts. But the truth is that she was loved; people forget love comes in many forms and while Rendle did not love her in a passionate sense she was indeed important to him whether he admitted it or not after all, “He had the genius of friendship, and he spent it all on me. Yes, you were right when you said that I have had more than any other woman.” He made her a muse because he connected with her soul, he enjoyed their conversations and her company, he found her comfortable that is all a way of loving someone. It is not the one-sided love that was truly devastating in this story it was this idea that because of her love she allowed herself self-delusion sparked by the opinions and gossip of those who read Rendle’s poetry.  The story clearly comments that as soon as whispers spread of her being the “Sylvia”from Rendle’s sonnet she became someone everyone sought after, why? Not because she was simply Mrs. Anerton but because to the outsiders she became Rendle’s Mrs. Anerton, his muse. In the story Mrs. Anerton even states that suddenly, “I was invited; people made up to me in the hope of getting to know him; when I was in London my door-bell never stopped ringing. Elderly peeresses, aspiring hostesses, love-sick girls and struggling authors overwhelmed me with their assiduities.” And because of all of this she couldn’t help but dilute herself into believing that maybe she was Rendle’s “Sylvia” after all as she states, “they almost made me think so too”. Her love clouded her ability to see the truth even though she states, “deep down, I knew he had never cared”. It has always been human nature to choose to believe in what satisfies self interest than in what is actually the reality. In addition, because of her love for him she fueled the fire and tampered with the letters to make it seem as though the passionate parts were left out. She lost herself, always wondering did Rendle love her, making excuses, tampering with the letters and indulging in the critics to the point that when she finally realized she had lost herself it began to hurt more. As she states, “At first I was afraid — oh, so much afraid — that you cared for me only because I was Silvia, that you loved me because you thought Rendle had loved me” the audience finally understands the true tragedy was that Mrs. Anerton no longer knew if she was worthy beyond her title as Rendle’s muse and that’s the true muse’s tragedy that they become just that, a muse. To the rest of the world they are forever connected to the artists, poets or writers who created them that title of “muse”.

How and why does Hurston incorporate the process of giving great value to seemingly small things (e.g. gifts, personal foibles or tendencies, inside jokes, games) into the story?

Hurston incorporates the process of giving great value to seemingly small things into the story by describing Joe and Missie Mays’ happiness through their little “fight”. “Shouting, laughing, twisting, turning, tussling, tickling each other in the ribs; Missie May clutching onto Joe and Joe trying, but not too hard, to get away”. Missie May is going through Joe’s pockets as if trying to rid him of all his property yet Joe enjoys this moment and lets her take everything. They are able to “fight” each other freely knowing the other person is enjoying the moment because this is like a tradition to them. Although little is given and taken what matters is the moment of happiness shared. Because the characters are not well off so they are easily satisfied with a little something, not only easily satisfied but they are happy just to have each other’s company. Although each person has their own level of satisfaction, readers can easily relate to their happiness of receiving a gift from a loved one and the gift gives the characters something to look forward to together making their life more interesting.

In Wharton’s short story Roman Fever, he discusses the friendship between the characters Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. Although their status remained as friends even though Mrs. Slade knew about Mrs. Ansley’s secret admiration towards her husband, she continued to be friends with her. However, the relationship between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade was never truly sincere ever again. Usually, friendships between two individuals influence their judgment, however, Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade differ in how their judgment influenced their friendship. Mrs. Slade was unaware of the secrets Mrs. Ansley had which concealed their true intentions. This leads to keeping the friendship although Mrs. Slade knew about her feelings. In the end, their judgment also led to the end of their friendship. Mrs. Slade asked why Mrs. Ansley was sad for her and at the end of battling it out, Mrs. Ansley reveals that she had Barbara. Wharton intentionally ends the short at that line because it shows how their relationship was truly insincere and full of lies. Friendship should be made of people who truly care for each other and respect where it is a judgment-free zone. However, that one line represented that the friendship and judgment they both had were corrupted with jealousy, lies, and insincerity.

Consider Mary’s choices toward the end of the story. Why does she choose this life rather than another?

In the short story, The Muse’s Tragedy, by Edith Warton, there seems to be a love triangle between three characters: Lewis Danyers, Mary Anerton, and Vincent Rendle. Danyers loves Mary and decided to propose to her. However, her response to the proposal was not what Danyers expected. Mary rejected his proposal because of her one-sided love towards Vincent Rendle, a guy who she spent fifteen years working with together. Rendle never expressed his love for her. However, by spending fifteen years with him, she believes he will have some feelings towards her. However, it never happened. Mary had the option to accept Danyers proposal and be married to him. However, she rejected instead as she said the following, “Somebody must save you from marrying a disappointed woman– well, you say years don’t count, and why should they, after all, since you are not to marry me?”(37). She wants him to marry someone who is truly in love with him and not someone whose heart is towards someone else and not him.