Category Archives: JM13D

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Response # 4

Option #2 : Comparing and Contrasting Happiness in “The Birthmark” and “Hills like White Elephants”.

Since I’m not used to writing informal blog posts, I will keep this post in a semi-academic manner with a bit of freedom given to the writing style and organization. It would feel more like a “forum post” if you will as opposed to a typical paper, but not as informal or personal as “blog post”.

In both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” and Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants”, happiness is shown as a very elusive goal that both the characters in “The Birthmark” and “Hills like White Elephants” were most likely unable to achieve at the end of each tale. To elaborate, I believe both sets of characters in essence achieved “Pyrrhic Victory” at the end of the stories as although, it seems as though the goals set by author for the characters in the stories. In “The Birthmark”, Alymer was finally able to be rid of the horrid blemish on his wife’s cheek at cost of her life while in Hemmingway, although the couple (Jig and unknown man) were able to come to a consensus on their “decision” but the story ends with an ambiguous ending that at least to me, implied that the relationship between the two of them will drastically change after this event. Whether it would change for the good or worse, is up to the reader to infer. I also noticed that in both situations, the characters could have just learned to “live” with their lot. For example, Alymer could have just tried harder to ignore Georgiana’s birthmark or the couple in “Hills like White Elephants” could have kept the baby (although, this would still also have been a change in their relationship just like their abortion). Other than that, I really can’t see any deeper comparisons about “happiness” in both stories.

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Where I’m Calling From – Raymond Carver

In this short story, “Where I’m Calling From”, Raymond Carver definitely practices what he preaches. His use of having “some feeling of threat or a sense of menace” adds more appeal the story for readers, because speaking for myself, the feeling of threat/menace was the idea that the narrator’s wife was cheating on the narrator with the blind man. Additional to this, the blind man would now be staying at the narrator’s home! To me, this is as horrible as it can get. To think, that if the blind man was actually the third person in their relationship, that the narrator would be housing and feeding the one person that was betraying him, with his own wife, in his own house. And another thing is the fact that Carver does not explicitly state this. He says all these little things, like how his wife has kept in touch with this man for such a long time, and how they were childhood lovers. The tension is apparent when they first meet, from the narrator’s point of view at least, as well as when they sit down to talk afterwards, especially because the wife seems so infatuated by the blind man, and in turn, turned off by the narrative, her husband. It sort of augments until the point where they finally connect over something randomly, which ends the tension between them. The tension never really fades until then. I think Raymond Carver is quite skilled at incorporating the feeling of tension and menace, because I was feeling it throughout the entire story. If that’s what he was going for, props to him!
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Group 6 Speech:Imagery

“The first thing that struck her eye was the furnace, that hot and feverish worker, with the intense glow of its fire”(pg 272). The imagery in Hawthorne’s “The Birth-mark” sets up a feeling of sinister atmosphere. It essentially gives the reader the idea that they are spending time in a mad scientist laboratory. “He washed the stains of acid from his fingers” (pg 259). The washing of hands, creates an image of Dr. Frankenstein. You don’t know if he’s up to good or bad. All that is known is the fact that something weird or creepy is going down; essentially there is some mad scientist with dark dirty-ass fingers who’s trying to get clean for his love.

“But if any shifting emotion cause her to turn pale there was a mark again, which is a crimson stain upon the snow “. This gives the reader an image of what this woman’s looks like. She is very hot woman, but when she turns her face, people head for the hills. Essentially, through her perfect design, she was made imperfect through the little mark.

To touch on another element which we believe is present, is kyiro sqiro (misspelled) because there is a contrast of colors particularly dark and light, eg. crimson, and white snow. Irrefutably, these images set up a reader for the ultimate feeling that the story will have a tragic ending. The descriptions of the little freak hand that even her husband won’t go near makes the reader realize that this birthmark must be really creepy, if even her husband won’t go near it.

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The Birth-Mark vs. Hills Like White Elephants

The Birth-mark is about a mad scientist who can’t bare to look at a small blemish on his wife’s face, and as a result sets out to remove her “terrible” flaw. Aylmer, the aforementioned scientist, is obsessed with the idea of attaining perfection in all areas of his life. He tried to attain perfection in all his scientific endeavors, but often with his successes came failures. And to him, a small blemish on his wife’s face was simply unacceptable. He could not get the birth-mark off his mind. He thought about it day and night–he even dreamed about it. His wife, Georgiana, was desperate to make her husband happy and to fulfill his desire of removing it because she wanted so badly for Aylmer to look at her lovingly again.

Hills Like White Elephants is an extremely short story about a young girl named Jig and an American man who seems to have impregnated her. They are discussing whether or not Jig should get an abortion, although this is never explicitly stated in the text. But how does this relate to The Birth-mark?

Well, for starters, the serious conversations these two couples have are similar. Although it doesn’t seem serious to worry so much about a birth-mark, the end result shows that Georgiana’s decision to have Aylmer remove it definitely was not a joking matter (since it led to her death). In Hills Like White Elephants the topic is abortion, which is of course a much more serious conversation, but the outcome of which is also very life-changing. In both these stories, the women show their willingness to make huge sacrifices, as long as they think these sacrifices will make their men love them more. Georgiana says, on page 263-264, “If there be the remotest possibility of it, let the attempt be made, at whatever risk. Danger is nothing to me; for life–while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust–life is a burthen which I would fling down by joy….” She’s willing to die because she can’t bare to live with a birth mark that makes her husband shutter at her, how shameful. Same thing with Jig. On page 168 she says “And if I do it you’ll be happy and things will be like they were and you’ll love me?…Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” If you ask me, both these women seem a bit naive. Jig is very young, so I guess that’s expected. But Georgiana is already married to Aylmer and it seems that she’s not so young, and yet she is so naive, choosing death over life with a facial flaw.

In both these stories there seems to be a dependency on science. Aylmer is a scientist who is confident that he can remove Georgiana’s birth-mark, when there’s really no certainty of this at all.  And this story was written a while ago, so clearly there was no certainty (just like there’s no 100% guarantee nowadays, either) that Jig’s abortion would have gone smoothly because there was a lack of technology and proper sanitary measures were not being taken. So in both stories, science is being depended and relied on when really there’s no guarantee that it will work.

Hills Like White Elephants is also quite different from the Birth-Mark, though. For example, we don’t know how Hills ends. We can only make assumptions and inferences based on the very little information we’re given in the text. On the other hand, we see that Georgiana’s life is taken and (although this is arguable) Aylmer and Georgiana did not really live happily ever after (considering that one of them didn’t live at all).

Another difference is that Hills has a very urgent tone to it, because Jig and the American are in a train station and the train’s coming in 5 minutes, so their conversation is in a way rushed and there’s a finality to the decision, because there’s such a small time constraint.  In The Birth-mark, however, the tone is not so urgent because there’s no definite time constraint, although you get the sense that Aylmer’s personality dictates a deadline for removing the birthmark, which is ASAP.

Also, to build on that, both stories have a finality to it. Birthmark is final in that the birthmark is removed but Georgiana’s life is taken, and clearly this cannot be undone. Hills is final because the decision will be made and most likely kept once the train arrives and they go forward with their lives. If Jig does get an abortion, a potential human will be terminated from existence, and if she does not go through with it, the American may leave her.

Both of these stories seem to display women in a desperate light. They seem to be hinting at an idea that women will do anything as long as they can keep feeling loved by men, and whether this desperation is healthy can definitely be argued. One may say that Jig and Georgiana ought to have more self-respect, and ought to demand that respect from the men in their lives (especially Georgiana. Seriously, Aylmer can’t accept ONE little birth-mark? Let’s get real… nobody’s perfect). On the other hand, it can be seen as very sweet and sentimental that the women in these stories are so deeply in love with their men that they will do anything to make them happy. Personally, I don’t think this is healthy unless those same sweet, sacrificial feelings are reciprocated to these ladies.

Are these women too dependent on men? What do you guys think?

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response paper 4 option 2

As I was reading both texts, “The Birth-mark” and “Hills like White Elephants”, I noticed that the women in the texts were not exactly happy. In the passages, Georgiana and the girl from “hills like white elephants” were depressed and obeyed the men. The girl did not know her place in the world and was lost. She looked to the man for support and all he did was reassure her even though he did not know what he was doing either. To me, it seemed as if the man did what most guys would do – he sweet talked the girl into getting an abortion. He said what had to be said to get what he wanted. And through that, the girl found someone that “loved” her.

Similarly, Georgiana obeyed what her husband said. Even with all the conclusions pointing towards failure, she did what he said. There was no indication of her emotion but we can easily conclude that she was not happy. When she read through her husband’s journal, all she discovered was failed experiment. Yet, she still let him experiment on her. I do not know if it was blind love but she did what he said. He reassured her, telling her how perfect she would be after the birthmark is gone. And in the end, she was basically talked into a suicide.

In conclusion, both women in the passage were not happy. They were just blind and lost. What were they suppose to do? There was a yes to obey the man and be with them a little bit longer or say no and face the wrath. They were the victims of man.

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I Once Was Blind, But Now I See

After reading “Cathedral,” I do feel that Raymond Carver did take his own advice in adding a little tension in his short story. From the beginning, even before the narrator meets Robert, the blind man, he feels a sense of menace and a feeling of threat towards him. The narrator was already annoyed that his wife had kept in touch with this mysterious man that she worked for once during a summer ten years ago and that he had asked to feel every feature of her face. If that’s not creepy enough for him, the narrator learns that Robert recently lost his wife and was even surprised he had a wife to begin with. He even goes so far to say that he felt sorry for the wife because she would never experience a compliment from Robert or even have him see her facial expressions. The true imminent tension between the two men would be when the wife announced that Robert would be coming to stay at the house for a visit. The narrator of course was ecstatic to have this blind stranger in his house.

However, as the story continued, the narrator seemed to begin accepting Robert’s presence or at least he was going to kick him out. This was apparent when he was listing things that blind people shouldn’t be doing or having and yet Robert was breaking every one of these. He had a full beard, liked his Scotch undiluted, he smoked a great deal of cigarettes, he had an animal like appetite, and he even owned both black and white and color TV sets as well as knowing the difference. The tension in the beginning of the story was significant because it was almost over the top in how a person could not like a blind person, a stranger in fact, too such great extent that he’s going out of his way not to like him.

I think the true detail that gave this story a satisfying ending though not explicitly written was when the narrator finally let go of his intolerance and really began connecting with Robert. It began when they both started smoking blunts. This to me symbolized the easing of the tension between the two of them because of course marijuana is a drug used to make people feel relaxed. Also, I feel that this was when the narrator began opening his closed mind a bit because marijuana is known for expanding your mind. At this stage, the narrator was almost impressed with this blind man, Robert, and began trying to describe to him what cathedrals looked like. The narrator couldn’t quite come up with what he felt was an adequate description of the majesty and immense beauty of such a tall structure of great magnitude.

What gave this story such a satisfying ending for me was when the narrator attempted to draw what he thought the cathedral looked like while Robert felt the clean lines with his fingers. Robert had asked the narrator to close his eyes and when he did, he felt an epiphany. He knew that he was inside his house yet he felt like he wasn’t inside anything. Just pure unending space. Only then did he truly have a glimpse in what Robert’s perspective of life was every single day.

Metaphorically, the blind man had been able to see the entire time while the seeing was in fact blind. But as it says in the Holy Bible, “I once was blind, but now I see.”

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Irony in the birthmark group 1

What is ironic about trying to be perfect? Take reality television Heidi Montag for example. She was not satisfied with how she looks so she underwent multiple facial and body surgeries. She thought that doing so would make her look and feel better. What was the outcome? “Perfection” and all she had to do was give up a few close friends and family members. No big deal, it’s what people have to pay to be famous. Now she looks more like a Barbie doll. And screw the fans; she has far more important supports. She now has perverts that will be happy to donate to more surgeries.

Aylmer and Georgiana are not much different from Heidi Montag. They were equally successful in achieving perfection. Forget about a face of a fairy or an angel, Georgiana’s birthmark is described as a crimson stain. How cool does that sound? And when Georgiana read through Aylmer’s journal, she noticed that all his experiments were failures – but that’s okay, he just figured out what to not do and that is a big accomplishment. Thankfully, Georgiana’s birthmark faded away. Aylmer’s experiment worked! And all he had to do was give up someone he loved. It’s a small price to pay for such a grand accomplishment.

Speaking about accomplishments, look at Charlie Sheen. He’s getting so much publicity time. He’s everywhere, one television, in magazines, and event in advertisements. When he said he was “winning”, he was right, he’s getting rich! And if he decides to sell his tiger blood, he’s won’t even need to act in “two and a half men” anymore.

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Option 2: “The Birth Mark” and “The Story of an Hour”

The “Story of an Hour” seems to suggest that happiness can be different than what society would intend and that it varies per person. The former becomes very apparent when we see Mrs. Mallard relieved rather than grief stricken, whereas the latter shows itself where the husband’s happiness is to be with his wife, while her happiness requires her to be separated from her husband.  The “Birth Mark” couples the fact that happiness varies per person along with the fact that happiness can change with time. The Husband in the story has a whole chronology of what made/makes him happy described in the story. It essentially goes from loving science to loving his wife to the need to remove the birthmark (which rekindles his love of science) which all then comes to a complete halt with the death of his wife, which in turn ends the story. I feel that this is a very nice touch to the story because it forces us, the readers to infer the husband’s reaction to her death. Though more importantly, it is leaving it up to us to wonder what can then make him happy, if he is even capable of feeling such an emotion at this juncture.  This leads us to the moral of this story which can be summed up by a Chinese proverb; “Gold cannot be pure, and people cannot be perfect.” This suggests that the pursuit of perfection can lead to the degradation and even ruination of the thing that you are trying to perfect. This also has a subtle nuance which expresses that it is possible to ruin one’s happiness, and in some cases making it so that one can never be happy again. After all,as aptly stated by Lady Macbeth, “what’s done cannot be undone”. (Act V. scene 1, Macbeth)

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Group 3 Speech, Literary Device: Repetition

The Perfect Idiot

The notion of ever achieving perfection is ridiculous. It is ridiculous to believe that any action of ours can attain perfection, or that any object can be perfect in itself. Aylmer, you are blinded by the pursuit of perfection, but the only thing you are not blind to is your wife’s birthmark. You perfectly believe that you are perfect, and this perfection is perfectly ridiculous. Aylmer, you are not only an idiot, you are a perfect idiot because you perfectly contradict yourself in the following statement towards your wife, “No, dearest Georgiana, you came so [nearly] perfect from the hand of nature, that this slightest possible defect…shocks me as being the visible mark of earthy imperfection.” So wait, make up your mind. Is she perfect or is she not perfect? She can’t be both. I think the problem lies with you, you think you’re perfect. As you say, “doubt not my power”…you must think you’re some sort of God. And then you go on to tell your wife , “then worship me if you will! I shall deem myself hardly unworthy of it.” Point in case, you think you are perfectly perfect, a little God on Earth. And by playing God and trying to manipulate your own little world in the pursuit of happiness, you destroyed a human being. Pity you, you perfectly imperfect idiot.

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The Lowdown on Positive Psychology

Who is this hot mama? Not my grandmother, I can assure you. She sort of has that lawyer look, right? Or that Best-Selling Author face you might find on the back of some hardcover thriller.

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