Natural Instinct

“To Build a Fire” (link) by Jack London is a great example of London’s dark, transcendentalist style; the elements of the story and careful diction all lead to a portrayal of the philosophy that nature is a harsh mistress and life is harsher still.

One of London’s prominent strategies in this short story is his descriptions of the landscape. London characterizes the scene as “exceedingly cold and grey” which leads straight into the idea that this will be a less than happy story. Within this first paragraph London goes on to mention that “There was no sun nor any hint of sun”. The sun typically signifies life and warmth, and is an indicator of the start of a new day. But instead of this new beginning the main character, a first time Yukon traveler, is greeted by darkness and grey. These will help set the tone for the events that soon unfold for the novice wanderer.

An equally integral part of the narrative is the “big native husky” that follows the man around. This dog is used as a symbol for everything that the inexperienced traveller is not. The traveller believed that the temperature did not matter, that he was a man and he could brave the 50 below 0 weather, when the sad truth is that he could not. The dog on the other hand has the natural instinct of an animal, it knows “a truer tale than was told  by the man’s judgement.” In the end it is easily seen that the man’s poor judgement and choices led him to his death, while the natural instincts of the dog kept him alive. A prominent example of this is the difference in how they each respectively handled getting wet in the freezing weather. When the dog falls through some ice into the cold water he immediately makes the effort “to lick the ice off it’s legs” because it “was a matter of instinct”. The dog is able to survive his brief stint with the water. On the other hand though the man’s own fall through the ice is not so fortunate. After he falls through he makes a fire and warms himself, but he does not possess the same instinct and natural prowess that the dog does. No, instead he “built the fire under a spruce tree” which soon loosed it’s payload of snow and snuffed out the fire. In short the man did not survive his own encounter with the ice break. London introduces an interesting point in this story, that even though a man might be taught the essentials of survival in the woods and seem ready for everything, he can never be as prepared for nature as a creature of nature will be. The dog is part of that environment and because of that he is more knowing than the man, his survival is due to the fact that he realizes the harsh ways of the wild and dares not underestimate the dangerous of the world. The man tries to defy nature but nature is not so easily tricked

Domestic Troubles

Cat by J. R. R. Tolkien

The fat cat on the mat

may seem to dream

of nice mice that suffice

for him, or cream;

but he free, maybe,

walks in thought

unbowed, proud, where loud

roared and fought

his kin, lean and slim,

or deep in den

in the East feasted on beasts

and tender men.

The giant lion with iron

claw in paw,

and huge ruthless tooth

in gory jaw;

the pard dark-starred,

fleet upon feet,

that oft soft from aloft

leaps upon his meat

where woods loom in gloom --

far now they be,

fierce and free,

and tamed is he;

but fat cat on the mat

kept as a pet

he does not forget.

Leave it to Tolkien to explore the inner workings of the classic domestic cat, to take a deeper look at something as seemingly trivial as the calm life of a house cat. A first reading of this poem may sound light hearted and generally silly, due mostly to it’s twisting rhyme scheme, but look again and you will see that the poem isn’t merely a cute homage to the lazy cat sitting on the porch. Instead Tolkien explores the tamed nature that domestic life has forced onto the cat, ruminating on the contrasting shared history of all cats to live a life of cunning and exhilaration in the wild. It might seem amusing that Tolkien glorifies the spirit of felines in this way, but the longing of a docile creature to experience adventure is something that is shared with everyone. 

Tolkien opens up the poem by describing the “fat cat on the mat” who lies around each day in a seemingly happy dream state. It’s important to note that the cat “may seem see to dream” and is not in fact necessarily dreaming. Instead the perception of the cat is that he wastes his days away in joyful imaginings of tasty treats and comfort. But Tolkien breaks this perception in the fourth line when he introduces the concept of freedom. He goes on to describes the free roaming cats as “unbowed” and “proud” which are both in direct contrast to the previously mentioned cat whose head lies on the floor and his body remains immobile. These wild felines are “lean and slim” they don’t spend lazy afternoons napping on the couch, they move about the world without restraint or regret. What Tolkien is getting at here is that it’s only natural to enjoy the freedom of the wild over the comforts of domestic living. This isn’t a trait that is reserved solely for house cats though, it’s seen throughout life and literature. When Chris McCandless chose to find himself, like so many other transcendentalists, within the trials of nature he gave up the easy way of life he enjoyed at home. Like those before him, he would rather risk the perils and uncertainties of nature than to enter the stagnant life of the suburbanite. Likewise, the cat has the same feeling inside as the young adventurous McCandless. Both belong to a caged society, while in their hearts they yearn for something with more substance. 

The final lines of the poem wrap it all together by returning to the “fat cat on the mat”. Tolkien writes that although the cat remains inside the home as a pet, he has not lost his inherent lust for adventure and primal instinct to roam freely upon the earth. The cat “does not forget” that it’s ancestors lived a more rewarding life, it recognizes the sacrifice that it has made by living domestically. It is not uncommon to feel this way at one point in life, few have acted on the feeling but regardless many have felt discontented about their lazy lives as the cat in this poems feels and reminisces on. It remains the choice of the docile dreamer to get up and find the adventure that they wish to experience, to free themselves of urban comforts and try their hand at a more fulfilling but trying existence in nature.

Pathedy of Manners

Pathedy of Manners by Ellen Kay 

At twenty she was brilliant and adored,
Phi Beta Kappa, sought for every dance;
Captured symbolic logic and the glance
Of men whose interest was their sole reward.

She learned the cultured jargon of those bred
To antique crystal and authentic pearls,
Scorned Wagner, praised the Degas dancing girls,
And when she might have thought, conversed instead.

She hung up her diploma, went abroad,
Saw catalogues of domes and tapestry,
Rejected an impoverished marquis,
And learned to tell real Wedgwood from a fraud.

Back home her breeding led her to espouse
A bright young man whose pearl cufflinks were real.
They had an ideal marriage, and ideal
But lonely children in an ideal house.

I saw her yesterday at forty-three,
Her children gone, her husband one year dead,
Toying with plots to kill time and re-wed
Illusions of lost opportunity.

But afraid to wonder what she might have known
With all that wealth and mind had offered her,
She shuns conviction, choosing to infer
Tenets of every mind except her own.

A hundred people call, though not one friend,
To parry a hundred doubts with nimble talk.
Her meanings lost in manners, she will walk
Alone in brilliant circles to the end.

     "Pathedy of Manners" by Ellen Kay expounds on the experiences of a woman who excelled at doing what society wanted, yet in the end can't cope with the idea that she was wrong to live her life in such a submissive state. The poem has a strong underlying tone that the woman in the poem is living her life only by what society tells her, and that her life is filled with choices that are less about her than about what society finds ideal. 

     The first stanza is a great characterization of the success the woman in the poem has within society. The poem's first line is simply about how the woman was already "brilliant and adorned" by the young age of twenty. The speaker makes special note that the woman in the poem is roughly the definition of what our society thinks is popular, she fits into a cliche role of the 'prom queen'. Society's acceptance and overall approval of her is reflected especially in the words, "sought for every dance." The woman is someone that society adores and strives to be around.

     In the second stanza the speaker comments mostly on the amount of effort and work that the woman put into becoming who she is. Where the first stanza had a tone of mild admiration, this second stanza is moving more towards the idea that the woman is merely 'fitting in' rather than being an individual. The woman went far out of her way to learn the ways of "those bred/ to antique crystal and authentic pearls." In this context these people are the upperclass, the wealthy elite that the woman is pleasing. The stanza then ends significantly with the line, "And when she might have thought, conversed instead." Instead of taking an internal and individualistic role (thinking), the woman chooses to instead "converse" and take an external role that is outside of herself.

     The third stanza opens with the woman putting aside her education by symbolically hanging her diploma and leaving it behind while she goes abroad. Any person could be expected to live abroad and have worldly experiences but the speaker makes a special point of saying that she put her diploma away before she went. The woman then goes on to have, "Rejected an impoverished marquis." A marquis is a (typically French) nobleman, and in this case he is impoverished. This shows that the woman in the poem is denying the poor and downtrodden from being around her, just as Torvald in A Doll House would not accept anything morally wrong in his home because it made it no longer beautiful. The woman shies from those parts of life that are less than pretty, ignoring and rejecting them.

     The woman and the society she lives in are most easily characterized in the next, fourth, stanza. This stanza opens by saying how the woman got into her marriage, which in her case is due to her "breeding". This first line shows that the woman's marriage is mostly just due to who society wants her to be, almost like having an arranged marriage. The word "breeding" is also important here because it has a very submissive undertone, animals are bred not people but in this case the speaker says that she was bred. The man she marries is given just about the same amount of personality as the woman, neither ever gets a line about who they really are and how they feel. In fact the only thing the speaker points out about her spouse is that his "pearl cufflinks were real", obviously an allusion to the idea that this is a man of wealth whom has risen in society's ranks. The woman's marriage with the man then leads to the ideal home with an ideal family, yet the children are bored and there's nothing more to say about the home than that it is ideal. This puts a submissive tone on the stanza which points directly at the fact that the woman is establishing her life based on society's standards, and it has gotten her nothing more than a bland home life.

     After this point the woman's life declines in it's 'success' with society. Though the speaker points out that "A hundred people call," the woman is still alone because of all these callers there is "not one friend". The woman continues to live her life by ignoring what might have been, and the potential that she had in life. She is essentially suffering the consequences of living a life that satisfied society but not her. The last to lines finish the poem with the idea that she focused so much on the standards of society that she has missed everything else and finally been left to "walk/ Alone in brilliant circles to the end."

The Dead

      Through imagery and word choice Rupert Brooke is able to weave a poem of both beauty and sadness regarding death. The poem, called "The Dead", isn't even 15 lines long yet in such a short space Brooke is able to convey several emotions and talk about a subject that is so foreboding and menacing in a way that actually evokes beauty and reverence.

      The first two lines of the poem have a very melancholy tone as Brooke outlines the intricacies of the heart and the ways in which it has been affected over time. He writes that, "These hearts were woven of human joys and cares, /Washed marvelously with sorrow, swift to mirth." This imagery shows the heart as being like an old worn blanket, used often through the years. These are the hearts that will be no more when death takes them but Brooke immediately sets out to show that when death comes all the subtleties of the old hearts will be gone. Like a well used shirt being thrown out, the owners of these hearts will die, but only after they have been washed with sadness and joy. Overall these first lines present imagery that is beautiful yet sad.

      The first stanza follows in a similar fashion, juxtaposing the happiness of life with sadness like, "Slumber and waking" and, "proudly friended" with, "sat alone." Brooke spares no feelings by referencing both the good and the bad parts of life, but always does it a way that can only be described as having poetic beauty. Finally the first stanza completes with, "All this is ended," a sudden shock back into the reality that death is final and that all past experiences are gone, whether they were of pleasure or pain, they are no more.

     In the second and last stanza of the work, Brooke moves into the actual death. In this poem death is represented as "Frost" and when it comes it stays the winds with only a gesture. At last in the last three lines death truly comes and leaves behind only a "white unbroken glory" and a "gathered radiance" where there was once a person. This is especially beautiful in that Brooke doesn't just say that what's left behind is the shell of what was once a person, he says that death leaves behind "a shining peace," something untainted, a final manifestation of all that is good in life.

     Brooke uses a surprisingly short amount of space to convey an image, and an emotion that death is not just a sad ending, it is a beautiful release. And while all the nuances of life may be gone, they lived through those nuances (like the used up shirt), and have come out full of memories and understanding. Death in this poem is simply beautiful.

The Meaning of Hands

     Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio explores a great many subjects, one especially significant being hands. By describing the hands in different ways, Anderson reveals the attitudes of the characters and the emotions that they are feeling. This concept is a focal point in the chapter called "Hands".

     Anderson typically refers to hands as either hands or fists. Classically a fist represents anger and passion, while the open hands represent hospitality and understanding. This is taken to the next level in the character of Wing Biddlebaum, a schoolteacher with constantly moving hands. Instead of fists symbolizing merely anger, in Wing they represent his frustation and timidity. In his hands he feels he has the power to inspire, but because of some very unfortunate circumstances he clenches his hands into fists, trapping the dreams inside of them and cutting off their 'powers'.

     Wing is constantly in an emotional struggle to control his hands because he is worried that once again they will bring him trouble. Anderson uses Wing's hands to represent him as a whole person, for instance each time Wing thrusts his hands quickly into his pockets it shows that he is trying to hide something. The immediate action of putting his hands in his pocket is symbolic of guilt, a guilt that Wing feels over his past. Wing even shows a sort of anger at his hands, constantly beating them against stumps and doors while he talks to keep them busy. It's as if the hands must be brutalized while he talks or else they will take control of him and he will be punished because of what his hands did.

     Hands are a very important fixture in Winesburg, Ohio and reappear throughout the novel. In their own way, the hands of the characters are the physical manifestation of the characters inner state. When Wing is scared he puts his hands in his pockets and hides them, but when he is excited and talking of dreams his hands are active and alive. The way the characters use their hands in this book is incredibly important and can help to bring a new perspective to each of them.

Introduction

I'd like to use this space here to introduce this blog and and say a little about what I plan to do with it. First off I'll start by giving some explanation for the name of the blog, Straight Outta AP Lit. I wanted to put a little urban flare into into my blog, a bit of street thug if you will. I was between 'Lit Thuggin' and 'Straight Outta AP Lit', I went with the later though because I just felt that it was right. Hopefully you've already noted that this is a reference to the song Straight Outta Compton, of course I like the juxtaposition that an blog about literature analysis and AP Lit is nothing like street life or Compton. But whatever, I'm straight outta AP Lit.
The purpose of this blog will be to analyze different pieces of literature in an insightful and academic manner in order to hopefully reach a level at which this becomes easy to do and brings something interesting into my literary analysis. I've already tried to mix up the usual way in which a literary analysis is done, my first blog was about the movie World's End directed by Edgar Wright and another blog about a song called Lux Aeterna, an orchestral piece by Clint Marshall. What was interesting, at least in my opinion, was that the analysis wasn't about a novel or another piece of traditional literature. Instead my blogs were on something different and hopefully it brought a new view to how I can write a literary analysis and what it can be.
My plan is to continue this and write blogs that explore the possibilities of the literary analysis. So stay tuned for more, because these are only the first of many more to come.

Lux Aeterna

This might seem a little out there, but I recently heard a song from the movie Requiem for a Dream called Lux Aeterna and found that it really felt like a story and so I'd like to do a literary analysis of it for this blog. The most comparable thing I can think of is an epic story, full of emotion, adventure, and suspense. It's an orchestral piece composed by Clint Mansell and while I've never seen the movie for which it was made, I'm sure that it helps drive the story. Check it out here to see what I mean. What I'd like to do is analyze how the song flows and how it connects to the idea of a stories plot. In order to do this I'll relate each part of the song with the original Star Wars film and the hero's journey that drives it.
In roughly the first 30 seconds the song presents what could be seen as an exposition, introducing the song and the tone of the piece, just as in Star Wars when we're introduced to the universe far away and Luke Skywalker. Then it slowly moves into a rising action for the next minute, like when Luke gets 2 very important droids and meets the old hermit Obi-wan. At approximately the 1:30 mark suspense breaks out for the next 20 or so seconds. This part can be related to the stormtrooper attack where Luke's aunt and uncle are both killed, the call to action. Then the piece slows down and builds up slowly; this would correspond to Luke's decision to leave his home and his emergence into a new life, his leaving of the symbolic threshold. Then the action starts again and we get into the conflict at 2:30, the Millenium Falcon has been tractor-beamed into the Death Star. From here on out the song is becomes more and more dramatic, 3:30 helps mark the adventure inside the Death Star including the freeing of Princess Leia, the escape into the trash compactor, and ending with Obi-wan's battle with Darth Vader. At 4:00 the piece slows once more, parallel to the death of Obi-wan. The song rebuilds suspense and slowly rises in tone until finally at around 4:35 the Rebel fighters make the jump to attack the Death Star. This is when the song gets intense reaching it's climax, the fighters approach the enemy, pilots get shot down, and Luke enters into the famous trench run. The emotion and tone of this part of the song work too well in unison with the climax of this movie. Then at 6:15 it's done, the Death Star explodes, the song brings everything to a head and the resolution begins as it does in Star Wars.
A song is like any other piece of art, it can be analyzed and thought over just as any novel or painting can be. Lux Aeterna is a condensed story, everything is wrapped up into 6 minutes of absolute epicness that could only really be compared to something as extraordinary and awe inspiring as the original Star Wars film.