Civil Disobedience

“Civil Disobedience” is a good example of transcendentalist ideas. One of the main topics is about the individual in society, which is one of the biggest points in transcendentalism (Dark). Henry David Thoreau believed that there should be limited to no government because “That government is best which governs least" (Thoreau). As Graves says “Thoreau recognized that government… can sometimes be grievously wrong. I have some problems with a few of Thoreau’s ideas. Transcendentalism works well in writing fiction, but not in politics and government. Thoreau is more about everybody just helping themselves and not caring about the well being of others. If there is no government then anything can happen. It opens the door to corruption, so monopolies and price fixing can occur when there are no regulations. Thoreau says “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it” (Thoreau). First of all everybody cannot always get what they want; secondly this is basically how the Constitution came to be; and thirdly the American government was founded on compromises. Not only was it created by compromising, but that is essentially how it works, and therefore what our country is based on. Thoreau also wants people to break laws if it requires a person to be an “agent of injustice” (Thoreau”). Who defines injustice but each individual with their own moral beliefs? He really embodies the Romanticism style that focuses on nature by saying that plants and acorns are following their own laws, so humans should too. Another idea of Thoreau’s is that “the best thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor” (Thoreau). The problem with this is that a lot of wealthy people were born into their money, so they cannot carry out the beliefs they had when they were poor because they were never poor. Finally he says that he does not want to rely on the State for protection, but if he is disobedient then he will punished. The fault in this is that some people do need help. There are people who need government to help them economically and otherwise, so maybe Thoreau should be like his criticized minority and conform to the majority. Of course one thing that can be agreed with is his stance on abolition. But he criticizes people who oppose it in thought but do nothing in action. People cannot always put their full support behind something they believe. Everybody cannot be like Thoreau, who goes to jail for his beliefs. But he also said “if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership, and be locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolition of slavery in America” (Thoreau). Thoreau only went to jail for not paying a poll tax, but he had the potential to follow through with this and end slavery in America. Either he is not an honest man, or he has succumbed to hypocrisy. He is speaking about abolition, but he is not following through with actions to support it.

"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 19 Jan. 2012.

Graves, Roy Neil. "Individual and Society in 'Civil Disobedience'." McClinton-Temple, Jennifer ed. Encyclopedia of Themes in Literature. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2011. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= ETL1130&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 25, 2012).

Thoreau, Henry David. "Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. .

Journal #26 When to break the law

When is it okay to break the law? It is basically a question of only morality. Usually people answer this by saying it is never okay, or maybe it is okay if it will help people. The most common answer is probably that it is okay to break the law if it is unjust. But there is nothing to determine whether something is unjust because every law is created in the thought that it is just. The people who create the laws are supposed to have the best knowledge of what is right and wrong, but people find it alright to break the law when they feel these people have made incorrect decisions. But there are many controversial issues where there cannot be a definite answer. Everyone could have a different opinion, so the people who create the laws may not be right. Sometimes they could even be wrong. When the law regards something very complex that a politician does not understand well, it would make much more sense to have the experts decide the legality. One of the most common laws broken would have to be drug use. Large amounts of people everywhere use, sell, and make drugs that are completely illegal. On a moral level, I think it is alright for people to use drugs, but it could lead to other problems mostly in society. A lot of people have to break the law by using drugs to cure or help with serious to minor diseases. I just watched a documentary where a man had to use magic mushrooms to cure cluster headaches, and he said he would have killed himself otherwise. This man is clearly benefiting from this with no negative effects, but he is breaking the law. In my opinion, this man should be able to do this without having to break the law. Of course there are a lot of people who feel differently, but it has the possibility to save lives.

The Minister's Black Veil

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” is a story that is engrossed by a central symbol. It is a black veil that is worn by a sexton. A short summary of the plot would be that there is a minister who puts on a black veil, and, while suspense is building for what it hides throughout the entire story, he never takes it off, not even when he dies. Of course there is more of a thematic meaning because it is written by Hawthorne. It implements elements of the Romanticism and Dark Romanticism writing styles along with some psychological importance.

The Romanticism concentrates on emotion and intuition over reason, so it emphasizes on looking inward for the truth, and it usually focuses on God. The Dark Romanticism focuses more on tragedy, sin, evil, mystery, and human nature (Dark). This story is more or less a tragedy because the main character does die, but it is more of a peaceful death. Although, the minister was sort of secluded from living a normal life in society because of his black veil. This crepe kept him from love and made people avoid him, but it has hidden his sin. As Wright says, the story is based on an actual minister who wore a handkerchief instead of a veil over his face to hide the guilt of killing a friend. The same is presumed about Father Hooper. He is thought to have done something awful, and now he has to hide his face or his guilt and sin. The story is fairly open to interpretation because there are not many answers. The veil is not removed at all, so anyone can weigh in. One possibility is that it is supposed to represent not the sins of Hooper, but of everyone else. He isolates himself from everyone else in a way where he has almost sacrificed his life so that everyone else can live normally. In this way he could be acting like Jesus, which makes sense considering he is a minister.

“The Minister’s Black Veil” is a very interesting story psychologically. A man has simply put a piece of cloth over his face but above his mouth, but people cannot get beyond this. They see him as a monster, but, if anything, the black veil has only made him a better person. So what is making these people fear this man? The veil is such a mystery that everyone talks about it, but nobody ever sees behind it. I think if I was in this situation I would run up and remove the veil, but apparently no one in the story thought of that. The veil is just such an extreme manifestation of almost supernatural power that “Even the lawless wind, it was believed, respected his dreadful secret, and never blew aside the veil” (Hawthorne 287). In that case, if someone did try to snatch the veil then maybe some unknown force would prevent it from happening. Because the people have shunned the minister his whole life he finally retaliates on his death bed. He says “I look around me, and lo! on every visage a Black Veil!” (Hawthorne 289). In deeming the minister as a monster, they have showed themselves to be just as monstrous themselves.

"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 19 Jan. 2012.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Minister’s Black Veil.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 280-289. Print.

Wright, Sarah Bird. "'The Minister's Black Veil'." Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCNH403&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 23, 2012).

Journal #25 Fear

Fear is an important element in stories. It comes from suspense, the unknown, darkness, and really a lot more. There is a whole genre of movies based around fear, and these scary movies do pretty well. But it is not a positive emotion; it is very negative in nature. When a person experiences fear they are not happy, joyful, or in a good mood. Nevertheless it is still a necessary part of humanity because it brings a lot of other effects. Fear can inspire or cause people to do things they would not do otherwise. Most people are scared of the norms in the world of fear such as spiders, snakes, heights, and sometimes darkness. As John F. Kennedy said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", but most people have much more to be afraid of. I really have no fear of spiders or snakes unless they are very large and dangerous, but usually they are just harmless. I have no problem with heights or darkness either. The only real prominent fear that I have, although it is pretty weird, is birds. For some reason I have always had this strange fear. It is fine when birds are farther away, but is just an irrational fear. I do not expect them to attack or anything, but it is more of just having a bird nearby or touching them. But even though this is a fear, I will still not freak out from it. I will just be a little uneasy in the situation. It is really weird when people have these irrational fears like arachnophobia. Especially when a big man is frightened but a tiny spider. It does not seem to make sense, but it still happens. The world might be a better place without fears, but, although there is no way of knowing, it would probably be different. It could change the way people react to things, so it is an important part of society.

The Pit and the Pendulum

“The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe is another work that fits both the Romanticism and Dark Romanticism writing style. It is a story, taking place during the Spanish Inquisition, about a man incarcerated dealing with psychological aspects from torture and a certain amount of loneliness, and it is written eloquently and rhetorically with vast description. This is one reason that it fits the Romanticism Period. The amount of description in this story is so voluminous and appeals to almost every sense, taste is the excluded, that it is almost overwhelming. The narrator implements the senses by likening a scent to “the peculiar smell of decayed fungus” or saying “the odor of the sharp steel forced itself into my nostrils” (Poe). This is just the description of different scents, so his vivid imagery to the sense of sight is much more powerful.

More common elements of Dark Romanticism are focusing on the tragic, evil, mysteries, and limitations of man instead of the Romanticism that focuses on the individual; the Romanticism in general uses a lot of emotion and description also (Dark). The whole scenery of the story is pretty mystical. There is an unnamed man locked in a dungeon for unknown reasons and he is shrouded in darkness. A fitting reason of why “The Pit and the Pendulum” leans more toward the Dark Romanticism is that the main character is clearly human because he clearly has flaws. He has already been locked up, but he makes mistakes. He miscounts the paces it takes to walk the perimeter of his prison and assumes that it is irregularly shaped when it is a square, and he is actually drugged at one point. He even deems himself “the veriest of cowards” (Poe 267). The poem clearly uses torture a lot, which is obviously a dark element. The narrator often brings up common torture tactics of the Inquisition like the autos-da-fe, where the accused were burned alive (Poe 265). He is constantly tortured both mentally and physically. He aches for food, he has a scythe that could strike him, and he is in utter darkness and loneliness. This leads to the psychological aspects of the story.

The story is told in a first person point of view with the narrator talking to himself, or more so the story is what he is thinking. This is because he is alone with his thoughts. He displays changing emotions from despair and a want to die like when he says “the thought of sweet rest there must be in the grave” to hope and even joy. Sova references the overall situation as “a symbolic story about everyone's worst nightmare and an allegory of the most basic human situation and dilemma.” This is good information to have to help determine his mental state. He is facing everyone’s worst nightmare, so it makes sense to be somewhat emotionally unstable. Hope, fear, pain, anxiety, and confusion are all feelings of the narrator. In the end he is saved from this dark nightmare, but there are still many questions left unanswered.

"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 19 Jan. 2012. .

Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Pit and the Pendulum.” Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 263-273. Print.

Sova, Dawn B. "'The Pit and the Pendulum'." Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= ffazpoe095001&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 19, 2012).

Journal 24- spooked

One time, long ago, I was in my house. It was a normal day at first, but then the night came. Everybody left the house and it became desolate. The loneliness was overwhelming and the darkness began to flood. For some reason the power went out, and it was almost impossible to see anything. We had no candles, so I was by myself in a world of darkness. I was trying not to get scared when I heard a loud noise. Bang! It sounded like a someone was taking a battering ram to the side of my house. I stepped outside for a moment, leaving the door open a few yards behind me, to check what happened. There was nothing there, but when I turned around the door was closed shut. It appeared like someone had sneaked in through the entrance when my back was turned, but how could they be so silent and quick? I went inside to search for this unwanted intruder. I heard some rustling that sounded like it was coming from across my hall. I got close and it was coming from the shower in the bathroom. I move the shower curtain and a ghost jumped out at me. I was quite spooked. It is not every day that a ghost breaks into your house, hides in the shower, and then jumps out. The ghost commenced to make creepy moaning noises, and flew around my in circles. I was all alone with a supernatural spook, so I did not know what to do. The ghost, all of a sudden, had a maniacal look, and he came right at me. Then the power came back as abruptly as it left. The ghost dissipated into the air, and left for good. Then, about a minute after the ghost disappeared, everyone returned home. The darkness was gone and the loneliness went with it. I had made it through a spooky experience, and nobody would believe it... probably because it is not true.

Edgar Allan Poem

Edgar Allan Poe has many poems that could fit the Dark Romanticism characterization because Poe really embodied it with a lot of his works. There are similarities between Romanticism and Dark Romanticism, but Dark Romanticism has its own specific characteristics. Some common elements are mystery, supernatural, and imagination (Randon). It also represents the belief that mankind does not possess divinity or perfection, but are prone to sin or other bad things. It can show failures of men, and have an all-powerful nature reveal how weak man really is (Randon). Many of Poe’s, and other poets’, poems will depict tragedies or death. A poem that represents the Dark Romanticism period does not have to have all of these qualities, but it usually possesses some or similar characteristics. This is almost like a response to transcendentalism because it shows flaws in a way that almost mocks it.

Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Lenore” implements a lot of Dark Romanticism elements. He starts his poem by telling of people singing “An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young” (Poem Hunter). He has already depicted a tragedy, but, like Shakespeare, this tragedy has a good outcome. In life, Lenore was “loved for her wealth and hated for her pride”, but when she dies she is in a better place. Poe says she gone “From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven!” (Poem Hunter). He shows how powerless and evil or sinful the mortal world is by calling it the “damned Earth” from which Lenore literally transcends. As Sova explains, the poem is about a loving husband who is upset by the way people looked at and treated Lenore, and he will mourn by singing. The singing aspect really has a lot to do with the poem. In the first stanza the people are singing an anthem at Lenore’s funeral; in the next two stanzas the narrator questions the people who are singing with lines like “How shall the ritual, then, be read?- the requiem how be sung. By you- by yours, the evil eye,- by yours, the slanderous tongue”; and it ends on her “flight with a Paean of old days” (Poem Hunter). The poem represents ideas about jealousy and love, like many other poems. The “wretches”, as Poe calls the people who can presumably be friends or family, hated Lenore’s pride. The poem says several times that she “died so young”, and it explains why by saying “she fell in feeble health” (Poem Hunter). So it is assumed that Lenore became fatally sick for some reason, and the only person who really cared was the narrator, but when she dies others probably want to take a part of her wealth. This poem deals with the reoccurring theme of death. The Romanticism poets seem to believe that, because death is so inevitable, it should be looked at very differently than a devastating event. It is either a coming together with nature or transcendence to Heaven. There is usually a optimistic view of this tragedy that is seen in both Romanticism and Dark Romanticism.

Poem Hunter. “Lenore.” Edgar Allan Poe. http://poemhunter.com/poem/lenore/

Randon. “Dark Romanticism Notes (1840-1865).” http://www.wordfight.org/dromanticism/dr-unit_packet.pdf

Sova, Dawn B. "'Lenore'." Critical Companion to Edgar Allan Poe: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= ffazpoe0692&SingleRecord=True (accessed January 17, 2012).

Journal #23 scary stories

I do not know if I have really read a scary story, but I have seen a few scary movies. One of the most significant techniques used is probably suspense. The building of suspense is always a good cause for a scare. This is always seen when there is a killer going after a character in a movie, and the character is hiding. Sometimes the killer will not find the character, and the suspense will seem to have disappeared. Then, after it has been quiet for what seems like forever and the killer is gone, another character will be right there and say something, which makes the audience startled because it was just unexpected. Suspense usually goes right along with sound effects and other mechanical tools to dramaticize the event. The music could build up for a while or there could just be a sudden boom, which is seen at some point in almost every scary movie. The camera angle is also important. Going back to the character in hiding, it is important to have the point of view with that character so the audience feels like they are also hiding from a murderer. I think the big element in writing a story would have to be suspense though. Of course the story can be written in the character's point of view, but it cannot make a booming noise, it can only have the word "boom" or other interjections. It is somewhat easy to make a movie scary because there are so many different mechanical and technical elements to be implemented, along with coming up with new ones, but writing a story that is supposed to be scary is a lot harder. They have to frighten a reader just by the choice of words and selected literary devices. Most people probably will not scream or get really scared from reading, so the writer has quite a difficult task that has to be developed very carefully.

Journal #22 sled poem

Sledding down the mountainous hill of snow,
The white flakes are dissipating apart.
As I slowly pick up the speed to go,
I move like a high-velocity dart.

The experience felt is of total joy,
The feeling of immaculate Winter.
I am going around on this great toy,
Like the world's fastest sprinter.

This wondrous invention that is the sled
Has caused fascination with the season.
The rush going on is beyond my head.
It is throughout the body without reason.

The cold is conquered by the warm jacket,
But it is not enough to stop Jack Frost.
My clothes are like a polyester bracket
But it cannot keep the freezing cold lost.

The sled is plastic but feels light as air.
I am as weightless as an astronaut,
But I am descending without a care.
When I want to stop the fast sled does not.

As my departure comes to a swift end,
I am going to fast, so now I fear
The consequences of the sled I send
Down the hill and into the strange and queer.

Journal 21- snow

At six o'clock the day is cold and young. The temperature is below freezing and little flurries are building up. After about an hour the snow flakes are binding together and there is nothing untouched by the snow. The snow can cause excitement, gloom, frustration, or complete joy depending on who it affects. Children go out to play in the frigid world during a snow day, while adults are clearing the unrelenting flakes from their aging vehicles. Everyone is bundled up to survive the harshest of temperatures, but they remain cold no matter what because it is Winter. The streets are slick and accident prone, so the safe, or intelligent, people drive slowly with great caution. The kids are constantly enjoying their day off and enjoying the day the snow has brought. It has brought opportunity to a day that otherwise would have been dreary and desolate. It can now be a almost magical time for all the children who are without any obligations for the next 24 hours. The white, fluorescent, and glittering crystals that were once descending gradually have now picked up rapidity toward the previously dismal region. The snow appears so immaculately as it falls, but the true fascination it causes comes from its wondrous properties. On a chemical level it is as simple as two minuscule hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom, but it is much more fantastical on a larger scale, especially to a person of ignorance who has never seen water in this nonfluidic form. It is said that each one of these hexagonal flakes, plummeting into and becoming one with nature, is different than its predecessor, yet they they seem so harmonious en masse. As the Sun shows its shining anterior, the snow begins to dissipate. But it is not scattering or growing farther apart; it is becoming water and just spreading over the land. As it departs from view it also leaves a memory of the Winter it corresponded with.