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

Over the course of this class, I believe that I approved in many areas. By the midpoint of the semester, I still needed to improve in participation and being more detailed in my writing. By the end of the semester, I think I have made an effort to participate more and also outline my papers so I can explore into detail my arguments and quotes more. I still need to work on my oral presentation skills as I get very anxious and sometimes forget what I am to say, however I think with more practice I will feel more comfortable standing up there in front of a crowd.

Jiwoo Han:

I watched the short film “Breath” by Samuel Beckett. Overall, it was a dark and creepy film. A lot of garbage are everywhere in the room and there is a beam of light shining the garbage. And then, one breath consisting of a deep inhalation and exhalation. I believe that the theme of Endgame is loneliness so Hamm and Clov cannot let go of each other easily. I felt like no one lives in the room any longer and it is left untouched for a long time. I found loneliness from it. Regarding the light shining the garbage, it reminded me of Clov looking out through the window. I felt like both scenes represent a hope out of the darkness. Also, the deep inhalation and exhalation represents loneliness. After the deep exhalation, I felt like something reaches the end. I think that the film “Breath” and “Endgame” are connected with one theme “loneliness”.

Susanna Domosi:

I agree with the observations of Jiwoo about “Breath.” It made the normal act of breathing humans experience a thousand times a day very creepy. A theme in Mallarme’s poem is being stuck in a state. The swan being described is stuck in a state that it cannot escape. This theme can be seen in the “Endgame” as well. Clove tried to leave the home him and Hamm live in, but even during Hamm’s monologue, Clove cannot get himself to walk out the door- he simply stands there. Both the swan and Clove are held back from situations because of their environment being restrictive. The words Mallarme uses to describe the swan’s efforts are “hopelessly struggling.” This same description could be applied to Clove’s repetitive sequence of interaction with Hamm. It is up to the reader to interpret if Clove ever even left the home, and many think he did not because of the hopeless struggle that he faced of not being independent being, but just being an accessory to Hamm.

Daphne Young:

Loneliness and being trapped are two very big themes in “Endgame” as explained by both Jiwoo and Susanna. I like how Jiwoo interprets the last exhalation like something reaching its end, it is similar to the ending of “Endgame” where Clov decides to leave- letting go and accepting the loneliness.

In The Chestnut Tree, the character explores the meaning of “existing”. He explores his surroundings, thinking about what existing meant when he realizes that existing just means it’s there. Things exist but there is no meaning to why, almost like nihilism. I can also see this theme in “Endgame”. Clov and Hamm purely exist in the play, but there is no plot and no endgame. Nothing is happening but they both are existing.

 Jiwoo Han:

    This production has many more dynamic aspects than the text and gave more understanding of the text. Especially, I very much enjoyed Hamm’s and Clov’s facial expressions while watching it. Sometimes, their facial expressions helped me better understand the intent of the director. I watched about the last 20 minutes and I found the clear-cut difference between the production and the text. Hamm asks Clov for his pain-killer and Clov says that there is no more pain-killer. In the text on page 791, their conversation seemed to me that it is an everyday conversation with the words which are empty of meaning. But, in the production, when Hamm asked for pain-killer and said “Ah! At last! Give it to me! Quick!”, Clov answered with an abrupt facial expression that “There’s no more pain-killer”. His facial expression was like I know what is coming in the end and it is high time to begin to change. In my opinion, this production provides a greater understanding of the story.

Susanna Domosi:

I agree with Jiwoo that the production brought much more light to the meaning of the story through the expression of the actors. Another element that I observed while watching the last 20-30 minutes of the production is how much the use of costumes can bring more insight to a work. While reading the script, Beckett does not exactly describe the attire of Hamm and Clov. Many clues throughout the script and the period during which Beckett wrote “Endgame” during communicate that the story takes place post apocalypse, or post atomic bomb attacks. The costumes of Clov and Hamm illustrate that they are living in the Cold War Era, the time period that followed World War II during which the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki took place. Clov is wearing a button down shirt and vest with a tie, also known as work attire. To contrast this outfit, Hamm is wearing a robe and a blanket. This brings meaning to the fact that Clov is in essence a worker and is present to serve Clov. Even though Clov does not officially work for Hamm which can be proven by Clov’s pondering on page 792 “There’s one thing I’ll never understand. Why I always obey you,” Their interactions based on the script  and attire based on the production illustrate that Clove is in a sense, a laborer of Hamm’s.

Daphne Young:

I agree with both Jiwoo and Susanna, the production helped me to understand more in depth what was happening in Endgame. Facial expressions, like Jiwoo explained, helped to understand the mood and feelings of the characters. The costumes, like Susanna mentioned, helped me to further understand the dialogue references as it may give us an insight as to when the story took place.

Another thing I believe that the production provided, that helped to understand the story better, that the script didn’t was the tone of voice that the characters used when speaking. Although the script did sometimes mention when a dialogue was spoken sarcastically, in the production the tones that’s the actors had throughout the story helped me to understand when they were being sarcastic, angry, upset, and even happy.

1. In “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka, Gregor turns into a cockroach and we see how the people in his life react to this transformation. Although Gregor suffers this tragedy some people in his life (including Gregor himself) do not react realistically, how does Gregor in “The Metamorphosis” relate to Aristotle’s Tragic Hero model? Specifically, how does Gregor’s metamorphosis help to gain more awareness and self-discovery of Gregor?
2. There is much evidence to suggest that Monkey from “Journey to the West” proved to live up to the meaning of his name and his journey is similar to Campbell’s Heroic Journey model. However, on the contrary, how does Monkey fail to find enlightenment and fail to progress in his journey?

Susanna Domosi:

I believe that there is a stark contrast between “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato and the ending of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. In the allegory, the fhuman exists the cave to learn the truth about the world. He gains knowledge by seeing beyond the images of shadows in and when returning to the other humans still in the cave, he is not understood. The experience of the human exiting the cave and learning about the world can be seen as a transformation, which then can be argued is a similarity because Gregor in ‘The Metamorphosis” also goes through a transformation into a bug. The difference between the two is that Gregor does not gain knowledge or insight about the world, but is rather negatively affected by his transformation and end up dying. The human gains expanded knowledge because of his transformation, yet Gregor is made a more primitive creature because of his transformation.

Jiwoo Han:

              I want to compare the graphic text “Kaspar” with the ending of “The Metamorphosis”. I think that there is a pretty big difference between the two. In the Kaspar, a man comes up to him and tell him what to do. The man teach him how to write and read, and even make him stand up and walk. But he does not have intention of learning anything at all and what he likes to do is to lie down and fall asleep. At the end of the story, “I stay standing where I am”. When the man leaves him, he does not sure what to do and know what is going on. On the other hand, in the Metamorphosis, Gregor is aware of how things going on. “His good intentions seemed to have been acknowledged; it had just been a momentary fright he had given them” (Franz 238). This statement shows Gregor comes to know the meaning of his presence to his family, and then he ends up dead.

Jiwoo Han:

        Georg Bendemann, in “The Judgement”, decided to commit suicide at the end of the story. The story comes to a bad end, even terrible. Even though many things which are day-to-day concerns happened to him at the same time, his father conclusively made him to kill himself. Georg dealt with his engagement, his family’s business affairs, his old friend who lives in Russia, most importantly, and the relationship with his father. All of these are very stressful but, doable and surmountable. There are a bunch of people who live with those kind of problems in these modern days. On the sixth page, father said to Georg “I condemn you to death by drowning!” At that moment, Georg was not able to suppress his feelings that he had controlled barely. As a result, his father pushed him into a corner and his father is responsible for Georg’s decision at the end of the story.   

Susanna Domosi:

I can see why Jiwoo argues that Georg’s father is responsible for Georg’s death, but that being said, I think Georg is should take responsibility for taking his own life. I see Gerog as someone who cannot see his life how it truly is, and not being fully aware of what his reality is. To demonstrate Georg’s confusion, the author describes Georg’s  father and him have extremely different stories about the life of Georg’s friend living in Russia(that is if he even exists). The last line of the story is “At this moment, almost endless traffic rolled across the bridge.” I see two messages of significance behind this ending. One is that Georg wanted life to end, but that life goes on and one cannot contorl that. The other meaning I see behind this ending is that no one cared about Georg committing suicide. Georg kills himself and dies, no one cares and traffic simply continues as normal.  

Daphne Young:

I agree with Susanna’s interpretations of the quote. One message could mean that life goes on and one cannot have control over it and in Georg’s case, one can argue that it was his father who was responsible for his death. However I do not see the ending as realistic, in Georg’s point of view he had control of his life and life was going well. When Georg took over the business, business boomed- more employees needed to be hired and the business grew 5 times larger. Georg was also engaged to a girl from a well-to-do family. His life seemed to pick up as his father’s seemed to decay. How it is that, just because of something his father said, Georg would commit suicide? Georg was pushed to a corner and overthrown by his father, “the father just nodded towards Georg’s corner to affirm the truth of what he said.”

Susanna Domosi:

Bartleby in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville can be viewed as a satanic hero. A satanic hero is a character who has a certain insight into life others do not, and proceeds to act on this insight in a non-conformist way. In many cases of satanic heroes, as well as Bartleby’s, the action taken by the hero is socially inappropriate: “‘I would prefer to be left alone here,’ said Bartleby, as if offended at being mobbed in his privacy” (Melville 310). It is socially inappropriate for an employee to refuse to follow the directions of his boss, especially when the employer is asking the employee to perform the task that the job requires. Bartleby “preferring” not to work is symbolic of how people in society should not be required of performing monotonous jobs. Even though other employees are performing the tedious and unfulfilling work of making copies, Bartleby, as a satanic hero, makes a statement by not performing his duties. This statement is that humans are meant to strive for fulfillment in life, which cannot be achieved by working day after day as a scrivener.

Jiwoo Han:

Susanna’s post is really well organized and interesting to me, but I have a different perspective from hers. Bartleby is not a satanic hero, but a traditional hero. From the viewpoint of his status as a scrivener hired by his boss, his refusal to the boss’s request is the least he can do.   

Even though it is extremely easy to see that Bartleby looks like an impotent and lazy man throughout the story, he also can be seen as a traditional hero. A traditional hero is the one who knows the truth, when others do not, and acts on it. It can be put it simple that Bartleby, in the story, is the one who wants to escape from routine of the world and the rest of the characters are the one who conform to a tedious routine, even they do not feel bored. “I would prefer not to” (Melville 302). When Bartleby is asked to do a boring and tedious thing, he keeps saying the simple answers. This short expression itself simply represents his resistance to a routine job. Later in the story, the refusal of his meal in a prison is pretty much the same thing. Bartleby is refusing to follow routine with every part of his being.   

Daphne Young:

“Bartleby, the Scrivener” is a very complex story and I can see how the characters can be portrayed as many different types of heroes- for example, Susanna sees Bartleby as a satanic hero while Jiwoo sees him as a traditional hero.

The story is narrated by an elderly man of around 60 years old, who is the boss or employer of Bartleby. Just like Bartleby, I believe that the narrator is also a hero. One can argue that he is an anti-hero. Unlike the name suggests, an anti-hero is someone who sees the truth when most cannot, but does not act on it. In the story the narrator says, “Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity” (321). The narrator puts both Bartleby and humanity in the same remark. Why? As the story progressed Bartleby’s character is slowly revealed, at first he does his work but slowly he stopped doing everything. As my group members quoted, he simply says he would prefer not to do work and prefer to be left alone. Instead of doing something about this the narrator lets him be. Sometimes humanity or human kind does things that most view as immoral or socially unacceptable, but at a level so extreme that many do not know what to do about it. The narrator lets his frustration out by saying, “Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!” because he knows that he should do something about Bartleby but he doesn’t.

Susanna Domosi:

One aspect of the red light district of Amsterdam is the “wholly liberal and tolerant attitude” of the place. Amsterdam is known and built on a liberal and tolerant attitude when it comes to all aspects of life, therefore the red light district in the city is completely legal. The honesty of people enjoying soft drugs, sex, and pornography is a quality unparalleled to most places around the world. Prostitution was not always legal in Amsterdam, but in modern day, prostitution is seen as a legal job where people working in the industry even have to pay taxes for their work. There is still much discrimination towards people working in the industry, such as banks not wanting to give workers loans, but Amsterdam and its red light district as a whole is one of the most liberal places when it comes to sex in the world.

Jiwoo Han:

         There is one interesting aspect in Amsterdam’s Red Light District which is the statistics in the area. This area is especially known for sex shops and cannabis coffee shops. From these commercial activities, they have their unique statistics in the area. There are people living in this area, 8060 people who do not work in the red light district, to be more exact. Most of them range from 18 to 35 years old. Furthermore, more interestingly, there are around 200 children living in this area. It is easy to think that the dropout rate for the children is relatively high in this area when compared to other areas without the red light district. But, it was the complete opposite. Only 7% of the student drops out of school in the area and 81% have a basic education. There are also a lot of people who work in the red light district, 20,075 people. This number of people is much bigger than the number of people who do not work in the red light district. In addition to that, this area contains about 250 cultural facilities such as The Old Church and the Hash Marihuana Hemp Museum. Based on statistics, it is tricky to say whether this area is mixed harmoniously or disharmoniously.

Daphne Young:

The prostitutes of Amsterdam’s red light district are generally below the age of 30, they range from single, in relationships, married, with or without kids, from different social and family backgrounds. They must be at least 18 years old and their clients must be at least 16 years old. Generally, prostitutes are their own boss. Although pimping is also legal most prostitutes will deny that they have a pimp. Prostitutes rent rooms for the day and/or night and discuss prices with clients prior to the job. During the day renting a small room would cost on average about 85 euros while at night renting one would cost on average 115 euros. On average, prostitutes in this red light district charge about 30 euros for 15-20 minutes of sexual intercourse. More than half the clients are foreigners and most of the clients range from 25 to 45 years old. Although prostitution is legal some prostitutes may find themselves in undesirable situations, most of the rooms that are rented out have buttons that when pressed will alert the police.

Susanna Domosi

The first ever relationship that the narrator has with a man is a case of forbidden love because the man is a samurai. The narrator was only eleven years old when she was having this affair with the samurai: “It was hard for us to meet, but I managed to arrange things sometimes, and we were able to make love. Rumors started, but I couldn’t stop myself” ( Saikaku, 595). The narrator shows no restraint in this section of the book and does not foresee the consequences of their affair at the time. Since the Samurai she was seeing was killed and she was punished by being sent back to her family, it is instilled in the narrator from a very young age that real love is not beneficial  in the society she lives in.

Later on when the narrator is working as a Monk’s wife in a worldly temple, the narrator demonstrates her development by revealing the self control she has built up: “I found myself… wishing he would come back…After a while I forgot my loneliness…” (Saikaku, 601). With age and experience, the narrator gained better control of her emotions and was better able to handle dealing with men in this section of the story. She was now capable of separating her work and her emotions, even though this is something she confesses as being immoral at the end of the story.

Jiwoo Han

         As Susanna stated, I completely agree with her. The love is not beneficial for both a young woman and man in her society. Also, this causes a horrendous consequence with serious punishments, especially for a samurai. On top of that, it seems that this love is not mature. “But the days went by, and you know, I completely forgot about him” (Saikaku, 595). This shows pretty clearly that she does not have a deep affection for a samurai.

     When the woman went to Edo and becomes a mistress of a Domain lord, her way of loving a man appears. “I’ve always been an unlucky woman, buy with the lord I was fortunate. He was tender to me, and we enjoyed lovemaking” (Saikaku, 599). Her relationship with a man is so much dependent on how a man treats her. Her attitude of maintaining the relationship with a man is quite passive rather than active.

     She has, however, changed in the section of A Teacher of Calligraphy and Manners. She tends to be more active to win a man’s love. “Why don’t you love me instead? We’d have to talk about it, of course, and we’d have to set looks aside. But I’m kindhearted, and with me you can realize your love without even waiting. You’ve got a lot to gain with me right now” (Saikaku, 604). By her being more enthusiastic to get his love, she makes love with him. As time goes by, the woman’s attitude to the relationship with a man has changed.

Daphne Young

Although I agree with Jiwoo when he said, “her relationship with a man is so much dependent on how a man treats her,” I disagree with his next statement where he said that the woman’s attitude to relationships with men changed. I don’t think her relationship towards men have changed at all. Throughout the text she seems very selfish, wanting sensuous love rather than the man she is making love to. Her opinion and feelings change almost instantly when the situation is not benefiting her.

We can see this selfishness in her story with the samurai.  Because it was a forbidden love, the samurai was executed while she was only punished and sent away. She mourned for him, but soon she forgot about him. “It’s amazing how quickly a woman’s mind can change.” (595) When she becomes the monk’s wife, at first we can see that she was depressed, but then she began to crave his presence and enjoy her situation. However she gets spooked by a woman she meet and planned an escape. In the section  A Teacher of Calligraphy and Manners, she helps a young man write love letters to a woman he is trying to pursue. Soon she falls in love with him and tells him to love her instead, as he had become very dear to her. However,  almost instantly after some remarks that he makes, she says “there was no shortage of nice men in the capital, and I decided I’d have to look somewhere else.” (604)

Susanna Domosi:

Monkey is given the name Wake-to-Vacuity at the end of chapter 1. The significance of this could be seen as Monkey having to be awaken in order to come to vacuity. Vacuity can be defined as emptiness; getting rid of the idea that you are an individual because in spirituality, we are all connected as one. In other words, vacuity is immortality, the goal that Monkey sets out on a journey to achieve. Wisdom is one of the Six Perfections, one of the ways to enlightenment. Monkey demonstrates wisdom when he realizes that there is more to be accomplished in life than living with the other monkeys inside the waterfall: “Though we are not subject to the laws of man today, nor need we be threatened by the rule of any bird or beast, old age and physical decay in the future will disclose the secret sovereignty of Yama, King of the Underworld” (Wu Cheng’en, 428). Monkey is awaken with wisdom to strive to become immortal.
Wisdom is the possession of knowledge based on experiences. When monkey journeys through the West, his wisdom grows by observing the life of humans he encounters: “He saw, however, that the people of the world were all seekers after profit and fame: there was not one who showed concern for his appointed end” (Wu Cheng’en, 430). Monkey seeking immortality gains him wisdom on his journey to becoming awaken, achieving vacuity, and being names Wake-to-Vacuity.This allows him to understand that “profit” and “fame” are not items of real value.
Jiwoo Han:
In addition to what my partners stated, Monkey’s wisdom is the key to make it for him to where an immortal and his disciples live. It also gives him a chance to be one of the disciples and to become immortal in the end. He said “I have no cause for unhappiness. But I have a misgiving about the future, which troubles me sorely” (Wu Cheng’en). He is not content with his present life and it makes him look for something which is enlightenment. He also said “Is there no way by which, instead of being born again on earth, I might live forever among the people of the sky?” (Wu Cheng’en). He knows that he is not capable of avoiding mortality. His wisdom makes him go off on a journey to relieve a misgiving about his future life. He would never leave his home and get a chance to become immortal without wisdom. Therefore, wisdom is the key to awaken him to vacuity.

Daphne Young:
I agree with Susanna when she says vacuity, or emptiness, is immortality and Monkey gains wisdom on his journey to achieving vacuity. Building on that, immortality can also be seen as infinity, having no end. When one thinks that one knows all one’s world is very small and finite. If one does not seek to obtain more knowledge, one’s world is limited to only what they know or think they know. The more one knows, the more knowledge and wisdom one gains, the more infinite one’s world becomes. Monkey’s name, Wake-to-Vacuity, means a journey to enlightenment. It means to rid the idea of individuality as we are all connected one way or another in the world. “Smashing stubborn vacuity requires wake-to-vacuity.” (436) In Monkey’s journey, he will gain a lot of wisdom. The more wisdom he gains, the more he devotes his life to helping Tripitaka get to where he needs to go. “During the course of the pilgrimage, the monkey becomes increasingly bound both to his master and to the quest itself…the quest becomes…a structured series of challenges by which he can focus and discipline his rambunctious intellect.” (423)