Revision of Open Prompt #3

The most important themes in literature are sometimes developed in scenes in which a death or deaths take place. Choose a novel or play and write a well-organized essay in which you show how a specific death scene helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary. 

Death is literature carries with it much more than just the event transpiring. The Awakening by Kate Chopin follows Edna Pontellier as she matures and rationalizes suicide.  Her death in this manner death illuminates themes of the novel  by emphasizing  her feelings of alienation and giving her true control of her life. 

            Edna awakens to the injustices of her life, and falls into depression.  This is made very clear by details of the novel, seen in emotional breakdowns , strange comments to friends and family about her lack of desire to live, and especially in the absence of a maternal connection to her children. By the end of the novel she can no longer conform to the traditional female roles of upper class society.  She acts with unforgivable disgrace for the time period,  committing adultery and moving out on her husband.  She looses the entirety of the maternal instinct that  mothers have.  Though she definitely lacked the affection and feelings of connection that most mothers do at the beginning of the novel, all remnants of this disappear by the end.  Shes sees no reason in staying alive even for the sake of her children. Committing suicide represents the most extreme of her options.  Her experiences throughout the novel alienated her in such an extreme way, and her constant sense of loss and longing gave her no alternative to death.  the novel  shows the gravity of Edna’s awakening to the dismal nature of domestic life through her act of suicide.  Nothing shows the deep wounds that a character carries than the taking of their own life.

            A  theme associated with The Awakening is a lack of control Edna has over her life due to her domestic position.  Committing suicide demonstrated the final control over her own life.  In her ability to choose life or death, Edna took back all of the control that was stripped away from her throughout her marriage and upbringing.  The importance of her action  is made clear by the unique writing style used at the end of the novel.  The scene in which Edna drowns is filled with imagery that no other part of the novel shares. As she begins to feel the pangs of panic, that her attempt at her life may actually work, she sees many images of her life flash before her.  These images are vivid and Edna actually relives these moments.  Having imagery unique to the novel in this end coinciding with such a significant occurrence emphasizes this event.  It is a definitive end to Edna’s life of uncertainty and discomfort. It defined Edna as a martyr for her own cause, and allowed her strong desire for true independence to be realized. 

            The Awakening is a novel in which the protagonist is lost and finds no meaning in life. Meaning for Edna however comes in a unique and ironic fashion.  Only through death is she able to achieve her independence and through this find meaning to her life.  This absolute yearning for independence is something that is emphasized on account of the manner in which she obtains it, through a death brought on by her own doing. 

Revision of Open Prompt #2

 As a literary event,  exile wields the ability to either destroy or reforge characters.  The Grapes Of Wrath demonstrates both tendencies.  Tom Joad faces exile on two levels, that of his family and home.  The exile that Tom Joad experiences destroys his sense of belonging  in his family, and coincidentally giving him a sense of purpose, reinforcing the theme of rebirth in a new land. 
     From the beginning Tom Joad is disjointed form his family.  His stay in prison has left him without direction. His initial insecurity about returning home are not unfounded. Steinbeck's use of prison as a tool to alienate Tom from his family and create a lost character.  Tom's first interaction as a free man with a truck driver is accusatory and aggressive, evidence of his loss of social skills.  His uneasiness about returning home spurs from the deplorable act that landed him in prison.  Though he successfully rejoins his family, he immediately encounters exile in another form.   Unable to revel in his new found freedom with his family, he joins in their exile to California.  
     Arising from his familial alienation and his physical exile is a new Tom.  Tom rebuilds relationships among his family members lost over his time in prison.   A clean slate, allowed to rebuild these relationships into something far more substantial than anything before. The exodus also adds to his reformation as a character, and solidifying his paternal like role.  Tom proves to be indispensable to the family's survival.   In the midst of familial power struggle among hisfather and mother, he serves as an intermediary between their polar tendencies.  It is important to note that he gives all that he gained post imprisonment  for the philosophy of Jim Casey, to fight for the workers of California.  His experiences with exile effectuated his transformation into a self sacrificial leader.
     I n Grapes of Wrath California promises jobs and bountiful farmland.  Though this is true for its richest residents, those who travel there have more taken away than granted to them.   Califronia however does yield an unlikely bounty. Tom benefits from his exile ,emobodying the idea that  new land can bring about a rebirth.  His transformation from isolated murderer to a self-sacrificing labor organizer shows just this.  Though most hopes of the exiled fail to materialize, Tom Joad is reborn and gives the sanctified idea of bountiful California some validity.
    The Grapes of Wrath's story of exile idemonstrates its power as a literary force.  It nearly destroys the Joad family.  Induced  from this decimation is a new Tom Joad .  His dynamic character illustrates acute changes that prove that California is more than an unfounded dream.

Revision of Open Prompt #1

1987. Some novels and plays seem to advocate changes in social or political attitudes or in traditions. Choose such a novel or play and note briefly the particular attitudes or traditions that the author apparently wishes to modify. Then analyze the techniques the author uses to influence the reader's or audience's views. Avoid plot summary.

For writers who compose during times of reform, their work tends to concern such reform.  This is the case for Upton Sinclair’s  The Jungle, written during the Progressive era,  notably known for spurring President Roosevelt in creating the Meat Inspection Act.  During this era  the fact that Sinclair’s piece was  a cry for socialism in the United States was overlooked.  Sinclair wishes to alter the capitalist system and democratic government of the United States to that of socialism. His views are effectively received by audience due to their portrayal in a literal hellscape.             

 Sinclair’s sought to eradicate the capitalist economy and democratic government that allowed a capitalistic system to seize it.  inherent to a capitalistic economy is a social attitude of class competition.  He makes clear throughout the novel that the domination by massive corporations drives the impoverished proletariat to death, often literally, in order to receive sub-subsistence wages.  Sinclair's Capitalism 1900’s was so perverted that the entirety of wealth was held by the upper classes.  This unfettered form of capitalism spurred from democratic government that was driven by greed.  Chicago's local government was controlled by political machines, funded by local corporations. Sinclair knew that the solution to all of these problems was  a socialistic society.  With economic competition and greed obsolete, everyone would live at a respectable level for human beings.  He was able to disguise this message with one that was better received at the time, regulation of the meat industry of Chicago.  

            The details of the Chicago stock yards and the life of Yurgis Rudkus lived empowered Sinclair’s story, forcing people to pay heed to it.  A plurality of pages describe the steps and procedures of animal slaughter in the stockyards of Chicago.  These details and examples of uncleanliness and disease are disturbing for readers.  He also emphasizes the amount of work that Yurgis does to support his large extended family, somedays working nearly 18 hours of physical labor, and in return recieves insufficent payment.  Yurgis must also fight mud clogged streets and brutal Chicago winters.  details  work together to create a tragic character out of Yurgis. His plights are never ending, the work ahead of him is insurmountable and he loses everyone he loves.  the tragic nature of his story  makes readers receptive to Sinclair’s promising alternative.  

            The imagery associated with The Jungle is also very effective in influencing reader’s views because presents the horrors of Yurgis life.  Sinclair’s use of imagery emphasizes the brutality and futlity of the stockyards. the description of Little Standislovas getting locked in a meat plant at night and being eaten alive by rats  is easily the most disturbing scene in the book.   For any reader, especially a parent, this occurrence is so disturbing that they can’t help but agree with Sinclair that the capitalistic system of the 1900’s was truly horrible.   Sinclair’s description of Yurgis coming home excitedly awaiting to witness his new born child, but ends up having to face his wife dying in childbirth is equally tragic.  The possibility of hope and utter depression of what actually transgresses shocks the reader.   The system that Sinclair attacks is directly responsible for these tragedies, making his message all the more effective.  

            Sinclair was certainly a covert critic of America’s economic and social situation of the Progressive Era. Though his idea of a socialist government never took hold in America his work's  were certainly simultaneously disgusted and moved by the vivid story of Yurgis Rudkus, and these emotions brought about due to Sinclair’s use of details and imagery were especially effective in readers accepting Sinclair’s ideas.