great works in literature II 2850 kta 2:55-4:35— Shades of Truth . . .

As my group mate Sabera said, when reading a work of literature, whether it be a play, novel or any other work, you usually imagine a world in your own head based on your understanding of the reading.  I agree with this completely and one aspect I saw sticking out to me was the way each actor decided to portray themselves. Not only was the type of voice up to the actor but so was the type of look they would have as well.  For example, when reading the beginning of the play in the book and imagining the type of setting that was being set it was very different the from what the actors on stage had set.  Although brief, the setting described in the text gave me a picture of a sort of lab and after reading the first words that came out of Clov’s mouth I thought it to be a mad scientist’s lab with him being the scientist.  That was another thing that stood out to me.  The character Clov had a lot added to him that the actor felt was part of his persona which was not in the text and once I saw this character on the stage I thought to myself “wow i read this character a bit wrong.”

When reading a work of literature, whether it be a play, novel or any other work, you usually imagine a world in your own head based on your understanding of the reading. To see a literary work come to life can often contrast the image you have created in your head. This is what happened to me when I viewed the play for Endgame after reading the play. Watching the play was very enjoyable for me as I was able to see the characters come to life. I found that the actors brought more personality into the characters than I got from the reading, as their added movements and tone of voice/facial expressions added to the characters I had originally imagined. In addition, the director’s idea he mentioned of the play being set in a post-apocalyptic world inside a bomb shelter also added another depth to the play as I was able to be given a different outlook as to what world this play might be taking place in. I always find it interesting when literature comes to life, and this play was a great way to bring Endgame to life.

Watching the real performance immediately after reading the text is a very interesting and educating experience for me. When I sunk in the theater seat and got immersed into the performance on the stage, those feelings which came from reading text was still lingering in my mind. In this way, the contrast is able to be so dramatic. For me, in the performance everything about Clov was unexpected, and I imaged Nagg as a little young man because of those biscuits but it actually was a old gentleman who plays Nagg on the stage. While these are still ok, and I can understand part of the reason why they set up the performance in this way. But as for the pacing of performance, I would say that it was unexpected and I still don’t agree on the way they play. When I was reading, I found that there was a lot of pauses in between the dialogues, and the content of dialogues are very symbolic. I can feel the dreadful essence of time through these pauses in the dialogue and killing repetitions of everything. I was imaging the performance would be like a Tarkovsky’s film. But In the performance, the actors speak very fast, and there is literally no pauses at all. Everything happens so fast so that I can hardly feel the repetitions. This is what I find the most significant difference between text and real performance.

Group Members: Chi Zhang, Myra Khan, Diana Rodriguez

Acting

The last twenty minutes of the play mainly focused on the dialogue between Clov and Hamm and gave the audience a sense of closure to the “thing” Hamm has mentioned that has been going on throughout the play.  I was able to spot a difference in the interpretation of the characters between the play and the actual scene in Beckett’s script of the characters Clov and Hamm.  After watching the video and following through the script once again, I felt that Clov is actually a more serious character than portrayed.  Whereas in the play we saw, I felt a comical twist from the actor of Clov.  During the Q&A session after the play, one of the actors also explained that according to his understanding, during the final monologue after getting no response from Clov, Hamm said “good”, Clov felt a sense of relief as if he has finally been released from his duties.  I felt a different vibe from Clov in the video as well as from the written script.  The look he gave off during the last few minutes was a bit heartbreaking and it was almost like he didn’t want to leave.  As for Hamm, the actor in the play portrayed his last minutes in a less caring manner than the actor in the video.  I believe the last few minutes of the play is a time of realization for both Hamm and Clov.  They have been threatening to leave and be left throughout the whole play, yet they have never actually done it before.  It is from the hesitation Hamm showed, that I believe he should have felt lonely and come to the realization that he shouldn’t have let Clov go.  As for Clov, seeing how Hamm acted should he have left, could have shook him and therefore his expression during the last scene can also be interpreted as the struggling face instead of the relieved face.  It was interesting seeing the play acted out by different actors with different interpretations; the way actors backed up their interpretations of each character was very meaningful to learn.

-Chi Z.

In the Endgame text and performance both had a very dark and deep story line. In both, I felt the loneliness and the sadness that each character expressed. The big difference for me was when I was reading the Endgame, I felt as though Clov was a very sad man. I felt as though he had dark humor and was only even communicating to Hamm because Hamm would initiate the conversation. However, in the performance Clov was not as sad, he almost had a very bubbly personality and made light of some situations. Only when he become flustered by some of Hamm’s request was when he seemed to be sad or angry. Also, in the performance I felt a lot of sympathy towards Hamm, that I did not in reading the text. I felt as though he did not get along with his parents but in the same sense, they did not get along with him. I felt like Hamm was trying to communicate to each character because he craved their attention. For example he had to bride his father to listen to him when he was telling his story, and even than Nagg did not really care about what Hamm was saying. While in the text I thought of him as selfish and ungrateful, which he is in the performance as well, but I felt more sympathy towards him.

-Kelly Kay

To me the difference between the reading and the performance was being able to connect to the actual characters in a stronger way. During the reading of “Endgame” i would visualize all that occurs in the story and have to create the images myself. While during the performance, I was able to connect to the characters and to the story in such a strong way. The quote “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness” is one that didn’t quite catch my attention during the reading but stood out to me during the performance. I believe that the meaning of this quote is what most presents a major  theme in “Endgame” of tragicomedy. The actors did an excellent job in connecting the audience to the play with a lot of enthusiasm.

William Dayan

It is very difficult to read a play and try to truly capture the deeper meanings of the gestures and actions of the characters when you are just reading what they are saying and also reading how they react or what gestures they did in the moment. Seeing the Great Works Staged Reading of the Endgame performance made it easier to truly understand what the characters where feeling and how they have adapted to their current situation. In the beginning of the text it says: “He looks up at window left. He turns and looks at window right. He goes and stands under window right. He looks up at window right. He turns and looks at window left.” Reading this confuses the reader as to what Clov is actually doing and why. While seeing the performance I was able to see that this part of the text had a humorous purpose. Right away, the audience was able to characterize Clov, and give reasons to his actions.

We choose to create a visual piece because like the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Mark: Kamran why did you choose this photo for the background of the project?

Kamran: I believe that the most important parts of The Judgment by Kafka took place in Georg’s father’s room so I found a picture online of a dimly lit bedroom to represent it.

Kamran: Why did you guys choose those quotes for this project?

Vyonna: Mark and I felt that the story had a lot to do with a lack of self-realization, lack of understanding, tolerance, and fear. After we created a list of the quotes we found online and narrowed them down to the ones that best portrayed the themes or emotions we noticed.

Mark: Why did you edit the photo this way?

Vyonna: I took the photo Kamran found and edited it to look like it would actually be part of a storybook and made all of the quotes have shadows because it looked pleasing to the eye and tied in with the morbid theme that Kafka has. I also add hues of blue to intensify the darkness in the room, to make it almost look mysterious. I also wanted to emphasize the lamp in the room to represent that you cannot have darkness without light and vice Versa. And today suicided is still not taken seriously but commonly occurs, and while I was editing it reminded me of something Dumbledore said in the Harry Poter series which was, “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times. If one only remembers to turn on the light.” so I wanted whoever was looking at it to still be drawn to the light and always find their light whenever they need to.

Vyonna: What quote stood out the most to you Kamran?

Kamran: Phil Donahue said that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, and in many cases, this is proven to be true. Often times, people commit suicide to deal with a problem they are having in their life such as bullying, money problems, etc and when they finally commit suicide, its due to that temporary problem. This quote fits perfectly into the life of Georg, as his life changes with the death of his mother. However, along with this change, Georg has to deal with the many torments of the relationship with his father as well as the relationship with himself. Eventually, Georg loses the struggle with his father and allows himself to succumb to his subservient side by committing suicide. The inability of Georg to fix this temporary problem and cope with this issue leads to his eventual suicide.

Kamran: Mark, why did you choose the quote by Paulo Coelho?

Mark: I chose that quote when I saw it because it was pretty clear to me in the story that Georg was scared of his father, the moment he walked into the room and said, “My father is still a giant” to himself and that was before they got into the whole argument. But in the story it says the father’s eyesight is diminishing, he could barely finish a plate of food and physically looked weak, so if the father can physically look like that but still raise fear in his son he clearly still has control over him. And some think that Georg only sees his father as a giant but that isn’t necessarily true because he picks up on the dirty underwear and him not being able to eat everything and even scolded himself for not thinking about his living arrangements after he gets married.

Mark: and Lastly, Vyonna which quote related to the story in your eyes?

Vyonna: The quote about two souls being housed in one breast or chest related to the story for me based on what the father said to Georg. “Sure I know your friend. He would have been a son after my own heart. That’s why you betrayed him all these years… But no-one needs to teach the father to see through the son. The moment you thought you had succeeded in pulling him down, so much so that you could sit on him with your bottom and he couldn’t budge…” Here I felt that the father was pointing out the internal struggle he knows his son has, almost like the two souls from the quote, one son wants to make the father proud and the other wants to branch off and live for himself. The son that is living for himself won but the other peaks through and that is why Georg  writes the letters, I believe to himself as if he is letting his other soul know what is going on in his actual life and maybe it is his way of releasing his guilt about what he is doing but it is also why he hasn’t been able to tell his friend the important matters that go on and only about the “insignificant occurrences”.

Thank you,

Vyonna, Kamran, and Mark

Thanks to all! Many of your questions are provocative and engaging! Some problems to consider:

• It will not be a good idea to compare/contrast two texts for this assignment, as it’s a relatively short essay.
• Look again at your question, and brainstorm about what is engaging for you. Robert Frost said, interestingly, “No discovery in the writer, no discovery in the reader.” In other words, if you’re not interested, no one else will be either, so really think about how you can make this question an exploration.
• After you decide what is truly engaging for you, try to narrow your focus of exploration. Try to get at something very specific.
• Remember the intent of this essay. Some of you are forgetting the journey model (it needs to be a part of the thesis) so read the assignment sheet, again, and ask questions in class.

Some of the more effective questions are (and although all of these could use some honing, but essentially are quite thoughtful). Remember, these are only questions, not thesis statements:

Chi: One of Aristotle’s ideas about the tragic hero relates to the concept that the misfortune of the hero is not wholly deserved and that the punishment given exceeds his or her crime. To what extent is this true in the text Journey to the West in regards to Monkey?  Was his punishment solely the five hundred years of solitude that he had spent under the mountain or was there more to it?  Were all the punishments given to him justifiable?

Myra: Allegory of the Cave by Plato shows there is more to life than what is in front of you. In “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka can Gregor’s family be represented as the chained up prisoners to some extent before becoming the free prisoner?

Kelly: (and Kelly, your second question was also quite compelling!)

Plato’s theory of the Allegory of the Cave suggest that it is better to be the just man who encounters countless sufferings than the unjust man living life ignorantly. In “Bartleby the Scrivener,” by Herman Melville, Bartleby witnesses the truth of his life and job, but is he considered to be the ultimate ‘just’ man that Plato refers to?

Radia: In “The Metamorphosis,” Franz Kafka uses the protagonist to express the five stages of grief. The first stage, denial and isolation, are prominent themes found in the story. Gregor’s life as a cockroach eludes to alienation and isolation. However, is his transformation the root of the problem? The transformation may symbolize isolation, but did his isolation exist long before this?

Crystal: In the Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s family remained heartless throughout his transformation. In the five stages of grief, you have to go through denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These stages help us identify how we’re feeling inside. Therefore, is it the reason why his family was acting “odd” in the story? Could the stages be used as an excuse of why his family wasn’t as caring? If so, how would you explain the bargaining stage in the story?

Zusanna: In The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, Gregor’s transformation could be compared to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. Once Gregor is no longer able to work and provide for his family, he becomes useless; in the “Allegory of the Cave”, the prisoner’s findings about the world of forms are rejected and anger the other sheltered prisoners. How does the treatment of Gregor by his family demonstrate humanity’s perception of the physical world and material goods in terms of importance? Once he is no longer able to provide anything of “substance”, how does the family begin to view Gregor? Like the prisoners in the cave, is Gregor’s family blinded by what they know and refuse to look at the world (or Gregor’s new form) in a different light?

Emily: In “The Judgment” by Franz Kafka, George’s father pulls his son from the shackles of ignorance and selfishness with which he has locked himself up in a false life. “So now you know what there was in the world outside of yourself. Up to this point you’ve known only about yourself! Essentially you’ve been an innocent child, but even more essentially you’ve been a devilish human being! And therefore understand this: I sentence you now to death by drowning!” How does this ending correlate with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave? Can one be involuntarily brought to the truth or do they have to willingly look for it themselves? Is this why George’s fate was what it was? Because the decision wasn’t his own to be set free from his “cave” in the first place?

Elizaveta: The Myth of Sysiphus focuses on human’s life as on an absurd struggle between a desire to have a meaningful life and a cold reality. According to that worldview, the climax of a journey is the choice between suicide or life. In the Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, protagonist chose suicide. Was Bartleby’s death an acceptance to meaningless of the life or he died from his destructive lifestyle?

Brian: The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, gives us as insight as to what Sisyphus must be feeling as he goes through his struggle knowing that it will get him nowhere, however Camus proposes that once Sisyphus’s acknowledges that his struggle will never end, the power it has over him ceases to exist.  Compare this to Herman Melville’s text, Bartleby the Scrivener, do you think that Bartleby could be compared to Sisyphus as he acknowledged the mundane, repetitive, pointless lives we as human beings have in our lives?

1. In “The Judgment” by Franz Kafka, George’s father pulls his son from the shackles of ignorance and selfishness with which he has locked himself up in a false life. “So now you know what there was in the world outside of yourself. Up to this point you’ve known only about yourself! Essentially you’ve been an innocent child, but even more essentially you’ve been a devilish human being! And therefore understand this: I sentence you now to death by drowning!” How does this ending correlate with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave? Can one be involuntarily brought to the truth or do they have to willingly look for it themselves? Is this why George’s fate was what it was? Because the decision wasn’t his own to be set free from his “cave” in the first place?
2. Could the father’s actions in “The Judgement” by Franz Kafka be considered heroic? In terms of the three types of heroes we have studied – Traditional Hero, Anti Hero, and Satanic Hero – which label best describes George’s father in the story? If he wanted to change his son, how could he have done things differently so that things didn’t end so tragically?

• Emily Weiss

1. How could Bartleby’s tragedy be seen as a heroic journey? What was his calling? Do you believe his response to the calling was justified? Was his journey a success or a failure?
2. In “The Metamorphosis,” what good has come out of Gregor’s death? How was his family affected? Due to the results of his death, could Gregor’s withdrawal from life and his family be seen as an act of heroism? If so, in what ways? Be specific.

• Borys Shturman