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

These statement: Felipe starts in reality but chooses to leave reality whereas the freed prisoner from the Allegory of the cave starts inside the cave but chooses to find reality.

This is a rough draft of the image I am using to illustrate my thesis statement. The middle is a circle that is half dark and fall light. This represents the outside world and the inside world, the cave. The inside world is shown through the dark half in that it is a cave and a trap and it shows Felipes choice to stay in this world. The outside world is shown through the light part of the circle that also has a ladder. This shows that with any trap or cave there is a way out. Felipe had a way out as well, he could of just left her house but he chose not to. This shows that when the freed prisoner was freed he chose to take this opportunity to escape and see the world and find reality. The circles around the middle circle represent the journey to reality. It shows that it is hard and confusing to journey to reality but eventually the freed prisoner adjusts to the sunlight and prefers reality. Felipe does not want to stay in reality and improve his life he would rather find a different reality so he goes through the circles the other way around, towards he middle circle. His journey is from reality to the inside world. For Felipe those circles shows the reasons and path to Felipe wanting to leave reality.

In response to Stacy,

I agree that the use of black and white in the carton further adds depth to the lack of motivation within the characters. The black and white is agree helps to get the message across. I like that you pointed out how the simple texts within the cartoon made the message come across much stronger.The simple texts further show how the lack of motivation within the characters consumes them. The black and white essence of the cartoon I agree plays into the message strongly.

The reaction of the chief and of Gregor’s father was completely different in “The Metamorphosis” when they found out Gregor turned into a bug. When Gregor woke up as a bug with no explanation the initial reactions from his father was anger and from his chief it was fear. It was stated on page 2019 that Gregor’s father “was moving forward implacably, emitting hissing sounds like a savage”. Initially,his father was angry at Gregor for not going to work that morning. He wanted him to go to work regardless of his current circumstances. Even when Gregor got stuck in the doorway his father did not show any concern but rather respond abrasively but just kicking him through the door. On the other hand, Gregor’s boss responds by getting scared and running away as he sees Gregor. His boss is overbearing and constantly complains that Gregor does a poor job at work. While the chief and his father have a a similarity in that they have a poor relationship with Gregor they both react differently when faced with his metamorphosis.

Jean: “That very difference-of man and woman.”

Julie: “That’s true, I am the lowliest–the lowliest of the lowly.”

In reading this story you can tell that at times the context is biased towards Strindberg’s  view of woman. Strindberg views woman as being nearly a “half woman” and inferior in regards to men. Where as men are naturally powerful, women believe they are just as powerful but in reality they aren’t. These feelings towards women are evident in the first quote where it is established that there is a firm difference between man and woman. Jean, the major male character in the story, knows that this big difference is that men are the superior and women are the inferior. Women try and be as powerful as men through hard work but it doesn’t prevail. The second quote also backs up Strindberg’s notion that men are dominant to females in that Julie confirms that she is the “lowliest of the lowly.” Julie accepts in this quote that women, like herself, may actually have less say than men. In this story, Strindberg makes it evident how he thinks the roles of women should be in society and how they should act. Strindberg in the story also refers to women as a “half women”, which I take to mean that she acts half like a woman and half like a man. Both her mother and father give her these strong traits that even though she is only a woman, she tries to have the authority and say of men at times.