All the King's Men Discussion Continued

 

In Robert Penn Warren's novel All the King's Men, I noticed that many of the characters transformed from nice honest people into cruel and heartless people as time went on. Jack Burden is one of the people that transformed from a nice and honest man into an inconsiderate cruel guy. He was originally a nice sweet kid that loved his mother, but as time went on he started betraying the people that took care of him. Jack Burden was tasked with the burden of finding useful information that Willie Stark could use to blackmail Judge Irwin. The judge helped take care of Jack Burden and always treated him nicely. Yet instead of lying to Stark and telling him that there was no "dirt" on the judge, Jack Burden tried his hardest to find out anything wrong that the judge did in the past. Jack Burden demonstrated that he has changed into a "backstabber" as time went on. Throughout All the King's Men, Willie Stark's actions demonstrated his transformation from a caring and nice guy into a cruel and corrupt man. Originally Willie Stark was a good person, which was seen when he tried to change which company constructed the school so that the state could save costs. Also, Stark tried to change the construction company to prevent the governor from using nepotism to make his cousin's company be responsible for the construction of the school. Furthermore, Willie Stark truly cared about the common person at the start of his political ambitions, but he was eventually corrupted and lost his kind-hearted intentions. Once Willie Stark had gotten elected as governor, he started trying to "find dirt" on people and had started cheating on his wife without other women. He started blackmailing other politicians to get his way with people and made them conform to his ideas and goals. Willie Stark prevented his own impeachment by insuring that all of his opponents would do as he said through the use of blackmail. Even the people that tried to impeach Willie Stark were truly amazed by his actions. Also, Willie Stark was a unfaithful man and cheated on his wife Lucy with Sadie Burke. All of these corrupt actions turned Willie Stark from an honest kind-hearted man into a corrupt and cruel guy. Furthermore, Cass Mastern also transformed from an innocent an kind man into a "backstabber". Mastern was originally just a youth that was looking for friendship and advice from Duncan Trice. Duncan Trice tried to give good advice to Master and he helped Mastern out frequently. Yet Cass Mastern betrayed his loyal friend Duncan Trice by sleeping with Annabelle Trice.  Mastern's affair with Annabelle Trice had caused Duncan Trice to commit suicide.  Although many of the characters in All the King's Men started off as good people,  they changed into cruel and corrupted people.

All the Kings Men Discussion

In Robert Penn Warren's novel All the King's Men, I noticed that as people were trying to become more knowledgeable, they were really portraying their ignorance. Willie Stark studied very hard to become a lawyer and even received the advice of an old lawyer. He spent many hours studying for the bar exam, but when he took the exam he almost started laughing due to the ease of the test. Also, Willie Stark thought that a common negro laborer without much education could pass the exam. Willie Stark's decision to gain enough knowledge to pass the bar exam really demonstrated his ignorance, because he had no idea that the bar exam was so easy that he could have passed it without studying for it. Furthermore, Willie Stark's effort to become a knowledgeable governor really showed his ignorance, because Joe Harrison's men wanted him to run to spilt the votes. By trying to become a governor Willie Stark showed that he was very ignorant in the ways of politics, because he had no idea that Joe Harrison's men were only using Willie Stark for their own purposes and knew that he had no chance at being elected governor of the state.

Throughout Robert Penn Warren's novel All the King's Men, Willie Stark's actions often made the reader question whether he is a good person or a corrupt man. I think that Wille Stark was a good person that became a corrupt man. Willie Stark was originally a good person, which was seen when Willie Stark tried to change the construction company for the school's construction to save costs and to prevent nepotism. Furthermore, Willie Stark truly cared about the common person at the start of his politacl amnbitions, but he was eventually corrupted and lost his kind-hearted intentions. Once Willie Stark had gotten elected as governor, he started trying to "find dirt" on people and had started cheating on his wife without other women. He started blackmailing other politicians to get his way with people and made them conform to his ideas and goals. Willie Stark prevented his own impeachment by insuring that all of his opponents would do as he said through the use of blackmail. Even the people that tried to impeach Willie Stark were truly amazed by his actions. Also, Willie Stark was a unfaithful man and cheated on his wife Lucy with Sadie Burke. All of these corrupt actions turned Willie Stark from an honest kind-hearted man into a corrupt and cruel guy.

Hairball teeth anaylsis

       Margaret Atwood uses a pattern of repeatedly mentioning teeth in "Hairball". When teeth were mentioned in " Hairball" they usually symbolized curiosity or sparked curiosity. When Kat was in the hospital " Kat too gritted her teeth fiercely. She was terrified, but was also curious. Curiosity has got her through  a lot. " ( 1) In "Hairball", teeth were frequently mentioned often accompanied by curiosity afterwards. Even though Kat felt worried about the surgery, once she started gritting her teeth all she felt was curiosity, which is a very unusual occurrence. the mention of teeth in " Hairball" contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole, because the mention of teeth often ignites a person's curiosity and that caused protagonist Kat to keep her ovarian cyst, due to curiosity.  After the surgery, she had received her ovarian cyst and noticed that it had teeth on it, and she asked the doctor, " Is this abnormal? Kat asked the doctor... Abnormal? No has said carefully, as if breaking the news to a mother about a freakish accident to her newborn." ( 2) Kat's curiosity of the ovarian cyst grew when she noticed that teeth were imbedded within the hairball. Even though Gerald would rather avoid looking at the ovarian cyst and did not want to get into a deep discussion over how the ovarian cyst originated, Kat asked the doctor whether the hairball was unique when she noticed the teeth in the hair ball. Kat's curiosity caused by the teeth in the hairball helps  prove that in " Hairball" teeth often sparked curiosity.  Also, Kat was curious to know whether the ovarian cyst was an unborn child, because of the teeth imbedded within the hairball, and was disappointed when she discovered it was not.  The affects of Kat's curiosity  are shown when the ovarian cyst's teeth helped cause Kat to be curious that the hairball might be an her unborn child, as a result she decided to keep the ovarian cyst, thus dramatically affecting the plot of  "Hairball". Kat had a round face and greet teeth when she was younger, but " By time her face had lost its roundness, through the teeth of course remained." ( 3) Even though Kat's lost her roundness after many years, she still has her great teeth. and this symbolizes that although her looks have changed her curiosity remains the same. The fact that Kat still has her teeth looking like it did when she was young contributes to the meaning of Margaret Atwood's short story " Hairball" shows that even though time may pass and people may look different, their level of curiosity can remain the same even after many years.                                                                                            

Hairball analysis

I have noticed that Margaret Atwood uses a pattern of making character names shorter to demonstrate a change in character idenity.In "Hairball" after Gerald told Kat to get rid of the ovarian cyst, she told him, “Goodbye, Gerald.... She pronounces the name with mockery. It's a negation of him." ( 2)  Kat uses Ger more frequently than Gerald, but uses Gerald when annoyed or disappointed with him. By changing Gerald's name Kat helps change and shape Gerald into whatever type of men she desires. Kat's use of shorter names for Gerald helps contributes to the meaning of the “Hairball" as a whole, because Gerald's personality transforms into the same as Kat's personality, resulting in him taking away Kat's job. Eventually through Gerald's actions Kat decides to abandon her name and change herself. Kat started changing Gerald from when they first met. Originally he'd been Gerald when they first met; it was she who transformed him, first to Gerry, then to Ger. She made him get rid of those sucky pursed-mouthed ties, told him what shoes to wear. (Atwood 4)  Kat made Gerald wear and do whatever she decided by changing his identity.  She changed his identity by changing his name. Kat shortened Gerald into Ger, eventually causing him to become a different person that is cruel and takes Kat's job. The shortening of Gerald's name contributes to the meaning of “Hairball" as a whole by showing that a person's name helps make up the identity of that person and by changing a person's name one can change the person, as seen by Gerald's transformation from a nice ordinary guy into a "sexy" cruel guy that is identical to Kat.  Furthermore, Kat also transforms her own identity by changing her name. When Gerald asked Kat what her name meant she told him, "It's Kat as in KitKat. That's a chocolate bar. Melts in your mouth." (3). Kat originally changed her name from Katherine to Kathy to Kat; " During her childhood she was romanticized Katherine... By high school she'd shred the frills and emerged as a bouncy, round-faced Kathy." ( 4). As Katherine she was a nice and innocent person, but she continuously kept on making her name shorter until it became Kat. Kat's shortened name made her lose a part of herself; this shortens her up to be summed up as just like a simple KitKat that melts and gets ruined as time goes on. She went from Katherine a nice innocent person to a cruel Kat who lost some part of herself. The shortening of Kat's name contributes to the meaning of "Hairball" as a whole, because it shows that Kat loses more and more of herself as her name gets shorter, and eventually leaving her with no name and blank state.

Lit blog 10/1/12

In the Anne Tyler's short story Teenage Wasteland Donny gets kicked out of his high school and runs away from home. Some people think that it is his mother Daisy's fault that her son Donny gets kicked out of his school and runs away from their home.  I personally do not think that Daisy is entirely to blame for Donny's bad behavior; I think that its a combination of Daisy, Donny, and Cal's faults that contributed to Donny's reckless actions. Daisy is partly at fault because she tried to help change Donny a little too late. Donny was already doing very poorly at school with low grades when his mother Daisy tried to help him. Also, when the teacher called Daisy to tell her that Donny was doing poorly, Daisy did nothing and pinned her hopes on Cal to change Donny, which did not have the desired effect that she had hoped for. But Daisy did try to change her son's bad behavior and even succedded in improving his grades quite a bit and got him counceling to help with his mental well being. Cal is also partly at fault for his encouragment Donny's bad behavior. Cal let Donny do whatever he wanted to do, which resulted in Donny's grades dropping and his susequent expulsion from school. While Donny's grades were getting worse, Cal told Daisy to let him talk to the teachers and Cal let Donny start failing his classes. This led Donny to worse and worse behavior that eventually led him to be expelled from school. But Cal did try to raise Donny's self esteem and Donny did have alot of fun with Cal, which resulted in Donny's self esteem going up. As a result, it was not entirely Cal's fault that Donny behaved so poorly. Donny was also to blame for his own bad behavior including: drinking, skipping school, getting bad grades, getting kicked out of his high school, and his running away from his home. He took advantage of the fact that Cal did not care about what Donny does at school so he started skipping classes, getting bad grades, and drinking alcohol. These bad behaviors led to his subsequent expulsion and his running away from home. In Anne Tyler's short story Teenage Wasteland Donny did not even leave a note or anything before he left, and has caused his mother Daisy much grief. Donny is the one most at fault for his own behavior, even though Cal and Daisy helped contribute to Donny's problems, but it is Donny who is in control of his own actions. Although Donny was inproving at the begining of teenage wasteland, Donny's poor choices led him away from the path his mother Daisy had wanted for him, and Daisy persumbly never saw Donny again after his decision to run away from home.