While reading Kafka’s “Before the Law” we can determine that Kafka represents the law as a physical space.  However, there are many questions about what is the law and who has access to the law that arise while reading this story.  The way the man from the country interacts with the law and the gatekeeper shows us that the law cannot be contained by one person and is more powerful than we know.  When the man asks permission to enter into the law later since he is not allowed to enter now, the gatekeeper says, “it is possible” but also adds “but not now.”  By saying this to the man we are unclear why the man is not allowed in and is it also unclear if, when, and why he might be let in in the future.  The gatekeeper also mentions there are other gatekeepers who are more powerful than he, as mentioned in the story “the man from the country has not expected such difficulties” and he believes “the law should always be accessible to everyone.”  This begins the questioning.  What is the law?  Why are some allowed access to the law and not others?  What makes the law so powerful?  Since the gatekeeper seems to have authority the man decides to wait for permission to go inside.  The man wait for years to enter into the law with no success.  “He forgets the other gatekeepers, and this first one seems to him the only obstacle for entry into the law.”  This line intrigued me, because the man never does see another gatekeeper.  So, it is possible the first gatekeeper only told the man this to scare him into not entering into the law.  But, at the end of the story when the man is dying the gatekeeper tells him “this entrance was assigned only to you,” so It is still unclear why the man was not allowed access to the law if this entrance was specifically for him.

Manifesto of Fire

Red, Red appeared, appeared and blew up.

Metal, heavy pushed and shoved, but wouldn’t break.

From every direction came hissing.

Hose got caught on turns – it seemed endless.

It seemed. It seemed.

You must flow the water higher.

Higher.  Higher.

And you must cover your face with the oxygen mask.

And maybe is hasn’t burned everything yet at all: it’s just that you burned.

Orange flame after orange flame.

And after this orange flame another orange flame.

And in this orange flame an orange flame.  In every orange flame an orange flame.

But that’s not good at all, that you don’t see the light: in the light is

where is it.

That’s where it all begins.    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .

With a.    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    Flame.    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .

My manifesto was inspired by Wassily Kandinsky’s “Seeing”.  I developed this manifesto through my passion of being a volunteer firefighter in the Bellerose Fire Department.  This is my depictions of the first time I was in a fire and what I observed.  I followed Kandinsky’s form strictly but recreating a fire scene instead.  One of the strategies used is manipulated light to create a vivid image for the reader.  This manifesto builds into its surroundings and show the reader what should be happening.  This occurs when I wrote how the water should be on the fire and the firefighter should have an oxygen mask on.   As well as having a single word at the end of the manifesto which in this case is the cause whole fire.

Antonin Artaud’s manifesto “Here Where Others…” resonated the most with me.  I believe this manifesto is about the mind as well as how the mind and life communication and work as one.  The line that most speaks to me in this manifesto is “Life is a burning up of questions,” this line could not be more accurate.  The questions all of us have for life start as soon as we are born, but life has no road map of which way to go.   Life has hundreds of obstacles for us to face on a daily basis, and once we overcome one there is another one waiting.  There are many different paths to take in life, and we often have questions on which one to take and which is best for us, but no one can know that for sure.  Life has no map nothing in life can be planned perfectly.  What also doesn’t have a map is the mind, Artaud even states this in his manifesto when he writes, “I don’t recognize the existence of any map of the mind.”  Not only is life confusing and hard to figure out, but so is the mind.  The mind helps attempt to figure out life and overcome it Artaud believes, “the mind and life communicate at all levels.”  If this is case does this mean that our lives are already planned out for us? Do we not control the choices we make?  These are the questions I’m left with after reading Artaud’s manifesto, using his analogy, maybe we are just a single icicle in the world of millions.

Emily Dickinson’s Poem “My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun” this poem is very interesting to me because the underlying theme of the poem is anger, which is something we all know very well.  In the first stanza of this poem Dickinson is comparing her life to a loaded gun, and “the Owner” which carried her and her life away is her anger.  It is easy for our anger to get the best of us and get swept away by it.  This is something that happens to me very often to me, as I’m sure it does for many of you.  The next stanza depicts hunting a deer in the woods, this is a violent act which anger can cause someone to be very violent.  When Dickinson writes “every time I speak for Him –” she is referring to when she speaks for her anger (the anger is “Him”).  Her speaking for the anger is when the gun is shot since anger can explode and make a person blow at any time.  When she writes “the mountain straight reply –” this can be seen as the echo a gun makes when it goes off in the woods, but also the ripple affect someone actions when they are angry can have.  The next stanza after this contain the lines “And do I smile, such cordial light” when Dickinson writes this she is describing how after a while the and the anger dissipates she can let out a smile to become friendly again.  Like many of Emily Dickinson’s poems, we can relate to them especially in this case with the underlying anger and problems it brings.

Harriet Jacobs writes in her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, her experiences being a female slave.  This book is nonfiction, and depicts the harassment and oppression she must face throughout her life.  Starting at the age of six Harriet had to face the horrors of life.  Harriet’s mother died and she was sent to live with the mother’s mistress, this however was a good thing for Harriet.  Here Harriet was treated well and taught to read, but this doesn’t last long because she soon dies as well.  This then leaves Harriet to the terrors of slavery.  She becomes a young slave girl to her new master Dr. Flint.  Dr. Flint was cruel and neglected Harriet, he also forced her to have sexual relations with him.  Harriet writes, “Dr. Flint swore he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave” (p.27).  This forced Harriet to keep quiet, but she tries to defy him by have an affair with the neighbor, Mr. Sands, and has two children with him.  Harriet does this thinking Dr. Flint will be furious and sell her to Mr. Sands.  Her plan however backfires and Dr. Flint sells her to a plantation.  Throughout this book, Harriet depicts all the tortures she went through as a woman and a slave to show the white norther women what is really going on and help the antislavery movement.

One of the key connections this book makes to the Seneca Falls Declaration, is that is written by northern abolitionist women.  The two writers of this Declaration, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, wrote this for the Seneca Falls Conference aimed at abolishing slavery and addressing women’s rights.  They used the United States Declaration of Independence as a model in writing, it is very clear with the line, “we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  This line is almost exactly the same, expect they added “men and women” into the text.  The main difference between these women attempting to acquire rights and Harriet Jacobs is that they are white and no African American.  Therefore, they are not slave women and cannot understand the struggle Harriet and all other slave women must live through.

Another important document having similar goals is Fredrick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?”  Fredrick Douglass was a leader of the abolitionist movement, in this speech he speaks about his experiences before escaping from slavery.  Douglass says, “To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony.” When saying this, he is only accounting for the men that are slaves not the women who are slaves.  Harriet is the only one out of these documents who is not only a slave but a female.  Having a first-hand experience with this enhancing her credibility and makes the book more effective.

Young Frankenstein is a film released in 1974 as a parody to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein.  This film was directed by Mel Brooks and stared Gene Wilder as the main character, Dr. Fredrick Frankenstein.  Dr. Fredrick Frankenstein is the grandson to famous mad scientist Victor Frankenstein, but tries to distance himself from being related to him.  Fredrick Frankenstein then gets word that he has inherited his family’s estate in Transylvania.  When he arrives there, Fredrick discovers his grandfather’s laboratory and private journals.  After reading his grandfather’s journals, Fredrick decides to resume these experiments and bring the dead back to life.

Much like Victor in Mary Shelly’s novel, Fredrick is successful in bringing a creature to life.  Fredrick does this through electrical charges during a lightning storm.  One key difference between this parody and novel is the reactions to bringing the creature to life.  In Mary Shelly’s novel, Victor says “unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep.”  Once Victor bring the creature to life he is immediately overcome with emotions and cannot comprehend that his experiment has actually worked.  Whereas in Young Frankenstein, Fredrick does not think his experiment has worked and leaves the creature strapped to the table.  It is during dinner when Fredrick and the other characters hear moaning (that is not coming from them) that they discover the experiment was a success.

The creature in Mary Shelly’s novel is immediately abandoned and left to face the world alone.  This abandonment by his father, Victor, causes the creature to resent him and want to take everything he loves away from him.  However, in this film Fredrick attempts to teach his creation and is proud of what he has accomplished.  Both creatures experience human feelings and come to realize that they are different from humans.  They believe society will always reject them and therefore are unloved.  But, in the case of the creature in Young Frankenstein Fredrick explains to the creature that he loves him and thinks he is beautiful.  Instead of keeping him a secret, like in the novel, Fredrick wants to show him off to society and puts on a show with the creature.  This does not go as planned, because society does not accept the creature.  Since Fredrick loves his creature so much that his is willing to risk his own life for the creature.

At the end of the film, Fredrick transfers some of his own brain to the creature.  This allows the creature to be accepted into society and live in peace.  One major similarity both the novel and the film have is the key character Elizabeth.  But, Elizabeth does not have the same brutal murder as she does in the novel.  In Young Frankenstein, the now scholarly creature and Elizabeth fall in love and end up getting married.

“When my father returned from Milan, he found playing with me in the hall of our villa, a child fairer than pictured cherub—a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks, and whose form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills.  The apparition was soon explained.  With his permission my mother prevailed on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her.  They were fond of the sweet orphan.  Her presence has seemed a blessing to them; but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want, when Providence afforded her such powerful protection.  They consulted their village priest, and the result was, that Elizabeth Lavenza become the inmate of my parents’ house—my more than sister—the beautiful and adored companion of all my occupations and my pleasures.”  -Page. 35

This passage from chapter one, describes the first time Victor’s father met Elizabeth and how she came to stay with the Frankenstein family.  Victor describes this interaction as almost seeing an angel like figure in Elizabeth because of how beautiful she was and how graceful she moved.  She became a blessing to the Frankenstein family who everyone adored.

I am very interested in this passage due to how Victors describes Elizabeth.  It is clear that sense they were kids Victor has loved Elizabeth, and she has always been his “more than sister.”  Not only does Victor love Elizabeth but they whole family does.  Victor’s mother and father went to the priest so that she could become a part of their family because they were so fond of her.  But my question then is why does Victor refer to Elizabeth as “the inmate of my parents”?

The term “inmate” can best be described as a person confined to an institution, in most cases prison.  I believe Victor refers to Elizabeth as an “inmate” because he sees her as more than a regular person.  Victor sees Elizabeth as an angel who is confined to Earth.  The first thing Victor compares Elizabeth to is a “cherub,” which in itself is a child angel sent from heaven.  The next line he says is “a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her look.”  Angels are often depicted with halos and light radiating off them and their wings.  When Victor looks at Elizabeth all he sees is brightness from her beauty.  One last line Victors says her “form and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hill.”  These are antelope that climb the sides of mountains, these animals must have perfect and graceful steps to stay on the mountain.  When comparing these chamois to Elizabeth, Victor is saying every move Elizabeth makes is perfect and graceful.  Victor feels as though Elizabeth is more of an angel than she is a human, and is not just an “inmate” to his parents, but an “inmate” on Earth.

I live in a small town on Long Island, where everyone knows everyone.  This great town is called Floral Park, where ever street is named after a flower.  Our town has an abundance of giant green trees, grass, and hundreds of flowers in the spring.   Not only are there plants, but there are many animals in this town.  As soon as the sun rises in the morning, there are Cardinals, Blue jays, and Robins flying from tree to tree.  The neighbor’s dogs are chasing squirrels and cats.  There is a since of community in this tiny town, where everyone looks out for one another.  I went to school with the same kids from kindergarten to senior year of high school since our town is so tiny.  This made our class extremely close and protective of each other.  We would all play together as little kids in the parks and then sports in school.  One of my favorite things about this town is that we’re like a family.

The birds are chirping

kids are playing in the park

such a peaceful town.

Every morning I leave this calm town, and ride the cramped train to the city.  Not just any city, but New York City.  The Big Apple, the City that Never Sleeps, and the Capital of the World are just a few of the nicknames many people refer to it as.  Just like for thousands of other people, commuting to the city can be the most stressful part of the day.  With delays, transfers, and cancelations I have to be ready for anything.  Not only do thousands of people come to the city on a daily basis, but millions of people live in New York City.  The overcrowded subways and streets make it nearly impossible to not bump into at least one person daily.  As well as the over population of pedestrians there is an over population of vehicles.  From the beeping buses to speeding taxis there are no empty streets.

Many busy streets,

buildings cover the whole sky,

what a sight to see.

It was hard to adjust leaving my tiny town to go to the big city every day.  These two places could not be more different.  I’m going from a town where people stop in the middle of the street to say hello to one another to a city where no one stops moving.  As well as from a place where I knew all my neighbors to a place filled with millions.  I was completely overwhelmed with this change.  But as I have started this chapter in my life I began to adjust.  I have now found a balance in my life going from my peaceful town to the busy city and can fully appreciate both.

By day and by night

the two worlds come together,

and bring unity.