great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

The use of the second person in Aura adds to the sense of a mystery unraveling right before the narrators eyes as well as our own.

Aura portrays magical realism through its use of fantasy in a real world setting that leaves the reader questioning what is real or unreal as they unravel the mystery that is the story.

Aura portrays magical realism through the use of authorial reticence, which compel the readers to further invest themselves in the story, readily accepting of the fantastical as the norm.

“Dont sugarcoat its bile”

stanza I line 4

This got me thinking immediately about this Hozier song, In A Week.  It talks about two lovers dying as they lay in a field and about how the animals will come and eat them and once they’re found in a  week all that will be left will be decaying corpses.  I refer to this line because the song doesn’t sugarcoat over the aspect of death and decay which can be seen as something disturbing or unspeakable.  When he says don’t sugarcoat he wants to expose everything and show how everything must be spoken about no matter what it is.  Everything isn’t going to be pleasant and we should be able to handle things the way they are dealt to us.   Hozier does this with the graphic language used in the song and forces the listener to face that as humans we will all die and rot and become a part of the earth and that we should accept this as a peaceful and natural process.

“Hozier – In A Week (Lyrics).” YouTube. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2014. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oho-q53uiv4

In the story “Metamorphasis”, a man wakes up to find hes been turned into a bug. He is trying to figure out how to best deal with his issue. His fathers reaction when he sees him is very different from the chief clerk’s reaction. The father seems to be repulsed by his son but at the same time wants to protect him from harm. The author states, “…who at that point had remained relatively gone… because attempted to drive Gregor back in his room” (218). He threatens him with various objects like a newspaper but never actually strikes him. The chief clerk is completely terrified of Gregor. The auther writes, “But the chief clerk had turned his back away from Gregor, the moment he had begun speaking and only stared back at him with mouth agape over his trembling shoulder” (219). The chief clerk doesn’t know what to make of him and is scared like other people are of bugs.  The difference here is because one has a personal relationship with Gregor and one doesn’t thats what distinguishes their reactions.

In Rabindranath Tagore’s Punishment an ethical issue conveyed is male dominance.  The men in this story are seen as superior to women in society which is what allows for Chandara’s death. The women had to be docile and submissive and do whatever the men wanted. The whole reason for Radha’s death was because she did not have his meal prepared and expressed herself.  Dukhiram says to Radha, “Give me my food.’….the elder wife exploded,…’Where is there food? Did you give me anything to cook? Must I earn money myself to buy it?”  This is seen as defiance from Radha and in his anger he believed it was acceptable to strike her. The problem with the situation is that it even crossed Dukhiram’s mind to act so viciously towards Radha. This is what Tagore makes a statement on and the fact that the man didnt even have to face punishment because his word and his brother;s word was automatically believed over Chandara’s.

1. In Saikaku’s, from Life of a Sensuous Woman, women’s existence was seen only as to how they could benefit men.
2. Although in Saikaku’s , from Life of a Sensuous Woman, seems like a tale of sexual liberation for women, it actually condemns them to objectification and slut-shaming.

In Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler we see an interesting power dynamic playing out between the characters. Hedda Tessman nee Gabler is a power-seeking woman and this is what led to the tragic outcomes of the play. She toys with others in order to gain control over them. While speaking to Lovborg and Mrs.Elvsted she says, “Just once in my life I want to help shape someone’s destiny” (Act 2 pg 816). In the time period that this took place there was nothing for her to do but get married and then sit around waiting for her husband at home. She is constantly repeating throughout the play that she is bored. She had to gain control over something because she didn’t have control over her own life. A brilliant woman like her could not make due with just anything, and in order to exert control she manipulated all the characters and situations around her to suit herself. Her tragedy was not knowing when to stop manipulating others and when she finally gained the ultimate power over Lovborg, his death at her suggestion, and it did not go as planned she recoiled. She was tired of not having power over her own life so when Judge Brack attempted to blackmail her and she saw this was yet another person who was going to control her she decided to end it on her terms, wielding the ultimate power of choosing death.