Age of Innocence Chapters 15-24 Analysis

     Chapters 14 through 24 are chock full of symbolism, themes, and motifs as well as character development and plot development. In chapter 14 we meet Archer’s friend Ned Winsett who is a failed author turned journalist who represents social freedom and what it cost. While talking to Archer, Ned points out that, “Life isn’t much of a fit for either of them” (Wharton 105). Ned believes that life isn’t much of a fit for him because he is not able to support himself or his family as an author because the people do not care for his writing. He feels that he has to conform to a certain way of living in order to live life but wants to be able to succeed in life by writing novels. For Archer freedom is constricted due to his place in high society. Ned suggests to him that he should become a politician but Archer just blows it off and says that he cannot because that is not what is expected of a gentleman like him. Archer is not even able to become a good lawyer due to the idea of working for money being looked down upon by his social peers. In the same way that Ellen is looking for freedom, Archer realizes that due to his social standing his freedom is constricted and the only available lifestyles for him include sports and culture. In chapter 16 Archer goes to May to plead with her to have the wedding moved to April instead of having to wait another whole year in order to be married. May thinks that Archer wants to move up the date of the wedding because he has fallen in love with another woman and fears that his love will fade before the prearranged wedding date. The irony of this is that May is right in her assumption that he has fallen for another woman but she thinks it is his old mistress instead of her cousin Ellen. May has enough insight and intuition to see that Archer has fallen for another woman but was wrong with her guess which allowed Archer to assure her that she is mistaken and as soon as Archer says she is wrong she backs down and just accepts it as the truth. In chapter 18 Archer questions Ellen of whether her aunt was accurate in what she was saying to which Ellen replies, “You mean, does she speak the truth” (139). Archer realizes through this that what he thought to be straightforward and honest language is actually a twisted way of speaking meant to hide the truth. Ellen is the only person who speaks the plain truth. She is straightforward with her way of speaking and does not use words to hide the truth of her conversations. Also in the chapter after they confess that they love each other Archer states, “I’m still free and you’re going to be” (144). He claims so passionately that he will call off his engagement and help her file for a divorce. However a telegram is received that says that the proposal to have the wedding date moved up has been considered and approved and he loses all will to do anything about it. He gives up on what he wants to do and resigns himself to a fate that can easily be changed. This shows that Archer’s freedom is a very fragile thing that is easy to take away from him. In a sense he also takes away the freedom of others. An example of this would be when he convinced Ellen to not go through with her divorce and to accept her fate. She tells him that the only reason she did was because he asked her to and he realizes that he is just stealing away other people’s freedom.

Age of Innocence Chapters 1-14 Analysis

   Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a novel about a young man named Archer Newland who lives in high society in New York during the late eighteen hundreds and goes about his life while pondering why society is the way it is. A big theme in this novel is innocence vs. experience and which, if either, is better. The two characters who most represent this are May Welland and Ellen Olenska. May represents innocence for a variety of reasons. She is naïve, unquestioning, and ultimately happy. May’s naivety can be seen when Archer ponders, “What if, when he had bidden May Welland to open hers, they could only look out blankly at blankness” (Wharton 69). This shows how Archer knows that May’s sheltered lifestyle has caused her to develop into one who questions nothing and simply sees the world around her the same as others of her class and the way she was raised to. He is hoping that when she finally opens her eyes to see the world for herself that she will have the capacity to think for herself and have new ideas instead of simply accepting the world for what those who are like her say that it is like. Ellen Olenska, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. She is free-spirited, intelligent, miserable, and lonely. She is always called “poor Ellen Olenska” due to the way that her husband treated her and the dodgy details that arose of how she escaped from him. Ellen’s loneliness and ability to see high society for what it truly is is shown when she says, “The real loneliness is living among all these kind people who only ask one to pretend!” (65). This shows how Ellen feels that even though she is among all these people of high esteem she is still lonely because they do not care to see the real Ellen and only want her to conform to their customs and practices. She feels that as long as the others of her stature try to compel her to fit into a certain mold there is no point in trying to make friends because they will not know the real her and so she will continue to feel lonely. Archer is torn apart by these two ladies and is attempting to find a happy mix between innocence and experience because it can be seen that too much innocence causes one to be naïve and unquestioning while too much experience causes one to become unhappy and feel like they are outcast from those closest to them. Archer has many controversial ideas for his time and old society ways such as when he says, “I’m sick of the hypocrisy that would bury alive a woman of her age if her husband prefers to live with harlots.’ He stopped and turned away angrily to light his cigar. ‘Women ought to be free – as free as we are” (35). Archer is incredibly forward thinking for his time. Generally men expected women to wait on them and to only speak about certain matters when they are brought up to them. Archer is condemning the double standard that allows men to find others outside of a failed marriage and is defending the right of women to get divorces and to remarry. Archer has not thought out his progressive view all the way though. Archer is trying to find a healthy balance between living a happy life filled with innocence but also trying to fill it with experience so that he will not be naïve and unquestioning of the world that appears around him.

Aunt Jennifer's Tigers

Aunt Jennifer's tigers prance across a screen,
Bright topaz denizens of a world of green.
They do not fear the men beneath the tree;
They pace in sleek chivalric certainty.  Aunt Jennifer's finger fluttering through her wool
Find even the ivory needle hard to pull.
The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band
Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand.
When Aunt is dead, her terrified hands will lie
Still ringed with ordeals she was mastered by.
The tigers in the panel that she made
Will go on prancing, proud and unafraid.

   Aunt Jennifer's Tigers is a poem by Adrienne Rich in the year 1950. The poem is mainly about a woman who is struggling to accept the fate of her daily life while at the same time striving to attain immortality through her work. Aunt Jennifer is living a generally unhappy life and uses sewing to attempt to escape to a new world in which she can leave her problems behind. She sews tigers because they are capable of demanding respect from others, something Aunt Jennifer is incapable of doing. Through doing this she deals with her problems by avoiding facing them and running away. The way that she escapes into her art is shown is through the vivid imagery at shows what she is capable of doing. This allows us to gaze into Aunt Jennifer's subconcious, she wants to be like tigers who don't let themselves be victimized by anyone. The tigers prancing help to show that they are strong and self-confident beings. The use of color in the first part of the poem symbolizes how the tigers and the land enjoy a greater sense of happiness and freedom than Aunt Jennifer has ever known. The yellow resonates fierce energy while the green reminds one of Spring and rebirth. Aunt Jennifer is searching for energy and rebirth and displays this through her sewing. She has no hope of finding either at home and as such uses foerign animals to signify how she would like to travel and discover the world. The passage "They do not fear the men beneath the tree" shows another reason why she uses the tigers in her work. Tigers are not afraid of most things and are predatory in nature. She wants to be like the tiger so that she will no longer fear her husband and be able to live her life the way that she wants to. Aunt Jennifer is doing what she can to cope with an unhappy lifestyle and this melancholy is made apparent in the second part of the poem, which deals in ambiguous images of rapidity and heaviness to symbolize the need to escape from the stagnancy of her marriage. She works rapidly because she is afraid that she will either not live long enough to complete her work or that she will be interuppted midway through. The marriage to the speaker's Uncle is perhaps Aunt Jennifer's greatest weight. After all, "The massive weight of Uncle's wedding band Sits heavily upon Aunt Jennifer's hand". This bulk is probably more emotional and mental than physical. It is doubtful that Aunt Jennifer's wedding band itself weighs down her hand so much that she can't sew as fast as she'd like. The weight is probably one in which her marriage didn't turn out as she planned.  Aunt Jennifer's marriage has most likely turned out to be her biggest disappointment and one that she would probably even like to escape. And for at least a little while escape she does, right into her sewing.

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Oh No by Robert Creeley Analysis

If you wander far enough
you will come to it
and when you get there
they will give you a place to sit

for yourself only, in a nice chair,
and all your friends will be there
with smiles on their faces
and they will likewise all have places.

This poem was written by Robert Creeley in 1962. It is the story of someone who has wandered off track and ended up in a place for himself with all of his friends there. The title of the poem is interesting because "Oh No" makes the place seem like it is bad that they stumbled upon it, even though there is a nice chair for them and all of their friends are wearing smiling faces. At first glance it would appear that the narrator had stumbled into a paradise where he was among friends and could truly be himself and had finally found his purpose in life.The narrator insinuates that anyone has the ability to get there just by wandering far enough away, in this case leaving the people you care about behind and working towards your own ends. The place is not actually a physical place because anyone is able to reach it no matter where they physically are by wandering off the path of community and walking onto the path of self. It can be attained by anyone at anytime just by abandoning those who have been with you for all of your life and choosing to only work towards your personal advancement. This shows the narrator's inclination towards selfishness. He changes his goals and only makes plans with keeping himself in mind. The people who are there already who are described as "friends" are actually others who have given up on helping others and only strive towards fulfilling their own selfish desires. They welcome the narrator to come and sit among them and to accept his fate as one of them but the narrator doesn't want to. He realizes that the place is not the right one to go in life and only represents selfishness and stagnation. It is odd to think of the people there as selfish because they are so willing and seem almost happy to offer the narrator a seat among them. This is done with malicious intent though and would only serve to drag the narrator down to their level to live with the same torment they have for abandoning their friends and family. They only want to give him a seat so that there will be one more poor soul to be trapped with them for all eternity. The people who are there will never experience true love or friendship ever again in their life because they have given up on others and only exist to strive towards their own goals that they have set for themselves. Their wild abandonment of those who have cared for them or knew them will lead them down a path that will result in them being left alone forever and friendless. Anyone who can be fooled to leave the right path by the artificial smiles of fake friends and a nice chair deserves to be alone in the end. Friends, family, and those who care about you are more important than any personal, material, or financial advancements that you can make in the world.

Plato's Allegory Of The Cave Analysis

Plato's Allegory Of The Cave is the story about a man who is released from his chains and is able to see the world for what it truly is. The allegory actually fits the hero's journey archetype rather well. When he is released from his chains he is able to turn around for the first time ever and is able to learn what is casting the shadows on the wall that is everyone elses's reality. He is able to question his world and learn more about it. Eventually he is able to exit the cave that had been everything he had ever known and see the open world for the first time. He explores the world and eventually reaches a spot where he is able to just gaze at the sun. At this point he has become enlightened and has learned more about his world than he ever thought possible. He returns to the cave to try to spread his new found knowledge but is only met with ridicule. The people there either don't believe him or don't care enough to consider the possibility of another reality. This knowledge ends up making him an outcast to his own people. He is no longer able to play the game where they guess what shadow will show up next due to his eyes adjusting to the light of the outside world. His new found knowledge is preventing him from going back to the reality that he used to know and forcing him to look at it the way he now knows it to be. His acquired knowledge that he is trying to spread actually angers his people and eventually some of them end up wanting to kill him to put to an end his talk of another reality. He believes it his duty to try to enlighten his people even if they don't want him to and no matter the consequences, even at the price of death. After becoming enlightened the enlightened must descend back to their previous depths to help the others that are on the same level that they were previously on. Generally the enlightened feel that they are responsible for bringing that same enlightenment to others close to them. This is generally poorly received, with the enlightened then becoming the outcast, unable to break through to anyone and persuade them to give his view of the world. The people generally are unreceptive to this enlightenment because they don't know anything except their own perspective on reality. They have lived their lives chained and looking at the same wall and are content because they do not know any better. no one perspective is more right then the other but those who are enlightened are simply unable to go back to the way things were and as such try to bring others up to their level. The problem with this is that people see no use in being offered a new perspective and as such regard it with little to no value.

Winesburg, Ohio and The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson and "The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot have many similarities between them. Throughout "The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock" themes such as loneliness, regret, loss of youth, loss of innocence, and indecision show up as the song progresses and the man shows his journey. These themes are very similar to those found in Winesburg, Ohio. The grotesques throughout the novel all possess most of these traits. An example of this would be Wing Biddlebaum. He has isolated himself so that he would not be thrown out of town for reasons unknown to him, but his isolation has in turn made him a very lonely person. He experienced a loss of youth and innocence when he was beaten and forcibly run out of town. Despite living in Winesburg for twenty years he has said himself that he was not a part of the town. These things are very similar to Prufrock. At the beginning of the love song he is unable to act because his analysis of his actions steered his mind towards negative thoughts, diminishing morality to an extent. In the next section the juxtaposition of "not enough time" and "always more time" allows Eliot to illustrate the harshness of age, the desire to be loved, and how people will justify being indecisive by saying that there is always more time. In the next section it shows that fear of judgement and exclusion paralyzes people from change. This leads to society, in its effort to police and judge people, often entrapping the same people who judge. The next section deals with the universal fear among people of the unknown in which people are unwilling to follow their dreams in fear of the consequences. The next part has Prufrock pondering what he has done with his life. He didn't go for the things that he wanted because he was afraid of the consequences of his actions and what other people would think. This led to his life being led along by others and not actively going for the things he wanted out of life. At the end of the love song Prufrock shows that people who have low self esteem tend to linger, daydream, and worry about the outcome of their actions until their moment in time was passed and the opportunity was squandered. The characters in Winesburg, Ohio are like this in the sense that they all have low self esteem and seem to waste their time. All that Wing ever does is pick berries and spend time alone. Doctor Reefy spends his time in an office by himself gazing out a window and observing the world around him but never acting in it or influencing it. Enoch spends time with his imaginary friends until they are taken from him and then is lost. These instances show that Prufrock and the inhabitants of Winesburg have many traits in common. They feel that they are oppressed by society and instead of going against it they simply give in and accept their fates.

Winesburg, Ohio: Hands Analysis

"Hands" is the story of Wing Biddlebaum and how he became the shell of a man he is today. The story contains many themes, allusions, and ideas within it. Wing Biddlebaum lives on the outskirts of town with minimal contact with the people of the town. Wing's primary features are his hands which could pick berries better and faster than anyone in town. The town proceeded to make him more of a grotesque when it is said "Winesburg was proud of the hands of Wing Biddlebaum in the same spirit in which it was of Banker White's new stone house and Wesley Moyer's bay stallion, Tony Tip, that had won the two-fifteen trot at the fall races in Cleveland"(5). This shows that the town cared more about his hands than they did as a person. His hands were his only worthwhile feature and everything else took a back seat to them which made Wing into more of a grotesque as people only knew him for his hands. The only person in town who Wing would open up to was George Willard. He would excitedly use his hands to hammer his point home when normally he would try his best to conceal and constrain them from being free. Wing tries to help George by saying "You are destroying yourself' he cried. 'You have the inclination to be alone and to dream and you are afraid of dreams. You want to be like others in town here. You hear them talk and you try to imitate them"(5). This shows that Wing wants George to talk and think for himself instead of being so heavily influenced by the people around him. He wants him to dream for himself and go out and try to realize his dream. He tries to further his point by speaking of his dream "In crowds the young men came to gather about the feet of an old man who sat beneath a tree in a tiny garden and who talked to them"(5). Wing wants George to understand that he has to find his own dream and then try to achieve it. In a sense Wing achieved his dream when he was a school teacher. He was put in charge to educate and talk to his students in order to make sure they were knowledgeable about many subjects. However his dream was shattered when "In his bed at night he imagined unspeakable things and in the morning went forth to tell his dreams as facts. Strange, hideous accusations fell from his loose-hung lips"(7). The half-witted boy single handedly destroyed Wing's dream. He was beaten and eventually run out of town based on one boys own imagination. Despite the fact that Wing's dream caused him to become the grotesque he is today, he still encourages George to follow his own dreams. He feels that it is worth it no matter what the outcome of chasing his dreams is. The opportunity to go for what you truly want out of life is too good to miss out on because of the possible consequences.

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks Analysis

The Pool Players. Seven at the Golden Shovel.
We real cool. We
Left School. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing Sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.

We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks was written in 1959 during a time where black civil rights were just starting to progress and the racial tension was palpable. The poem shows a group of young black kids who hang around in a pool hall and doing illegal activities instead of going to school. The group of boys are  unsure about where they fit in in society and so hide behind a tough facade by talking big. White people have stereotyped them into being criminals and instead of fighting to be above their stereotype they give into the lazy black stereotype. Throughout the poem many things are represented. The poem begins with seven boys who are playing pool at the Golden Shovel. The golden part of the title represents how the boys are young and should be in school. Seven is considered to be a lucky number and they can be considered a gang of sorts who constantly need luck to get by. A shovel is a tool which is used to dig in the ground. A shovel is used to dig graves which shows how the boys are playing a dangerous game and are gambling with their lives. The boys believe that part of the reason that they are cool is because they are rebellious and do not go to school. The way the poem goes promotes the idea that the boys are quite uneducated and are dropouts. They are only hurting themselves by not going to school and getting an education. Instead of becoming great they are further enforcing the stereotype of the lazy black man who has nothing to contribute. They feel that there is no point in pursuing an education in a society that refuses to accept them and actively tries to keep them down. They feel that they would not be able to do anything worthwhile with their education. Not having an education severely limits what a person can do to support themselves or their family. This causes them to lead lives of crime. The line "We lurk late" represents how they do their deeds at night after the darkness has fallen. In the dark a person can become whoever they want. The darkness has the ability to conceal and change someone's appearance and can lead to them being construed as evil and menacing. The line "We sing sin" represents how they brag about their misdeeds and crimes. They believe they are something to be proud of and in a sense a way into manhood. The last part shows how the lives of people who live like this generally turn out. Jazz is a very rebellious type of music because it defied the preconceived notions of what music actually was. The boys are free in the sense that they don't know or care what is right or wrong and will ultimately be responsible for their actions. The line "We die soon" shows how they know the outcome of the life they are leading. Their way of life is very dangerous and in the end very unsustainable. They know that the path they take will result in them leading a much shorter life but they take it in stride. They seem to be indifferent of the fact that their life path will almost definitely lead to a much shorter life span overall.

Winesburg, Ohio: Paper Pills Analysis

    Paper Pills is the story of Doctor Reefy and his late wife. The story has many themes, allusions, and ideas within it. One of the first things shown about Doctor Reefy are his hands which “looked like clusters of unpainted wooden balls as large as walnuts fastened together by steel rods” (9). This image of the wooden balls parallels the paper balls that he stuffs in his pockets and then empties after enough have been accumulated. The paper balls represent the heavy thoughts that the doctor thinks and carries around with him that weigh him down, much like his hands. The doctor has the tendency to take thoughts from the air and turn them into truths. These truths then get put down on paper and then put into his pocket. After a while the doctor must pour out these truths as they have become distorted and too dominant and risk turning him into a grotesque. The twisted apples have two meanings. They are metaphors for the twisted truths that the doctor creates. The thoughts begin whole but over time they become distorted and lose their original meaning. The apples can also be an allusion to the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, Eve ate the forbidden fruit and gained knowledge but in turn was kicked out of paradise. The twisted apples are like that in the fact that they are sweet and provide truths for the doctor but ultimately keep him from doing anything. The tall dark girl can also be considered a twisted apple in a sense. She is violated by one of her suitors but contains a sweetness, a hidden truth, that the doctor finds for himself in her. After her death he loses the truth that he found in her and is doomed to be alone in his abandoned office. This is shown when “He smoked a cob pipe and after his wife’s death sat all day in his empty office close by a window that was covered with cobwebs. He never opened the window. Once on a hot day in August he tried but found it stuck fast and after that he forgot all about it” (9). The doctor has become stuck. He is in his office and has become merely an observer who is doomed to nothingness. He is left to dream of truths that can never come to fruition. The one time he tried to do something about his position he found an obstacle in his way and could not overcome it so gave up and resigned to his life of an observer. The story also is about alienation and loneliness. The doctor has all these thoughts that way him down and he has no one to share them with. When he finally finds someone who he can open up to she quickly perishes and he is back to square one with no one with whom he can confide. Even with his only friend he cannot confide in him and throws some paper balls at him and even says “That is to confound you, you blithering old sentimentalist” (10). This shows that he attempts to share his feelings with him but cannot bring himself to do it.

"Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798" in Frankenstein

   In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, she uses part of Wordsworth's poem "Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During a Tour, July 13, 1798" to show the foil of Henry and Victor and to make her work more romantic in a sense. Tintern Abbey is about Wordsworth returning to a place he visited in the past and reflecting on the differences that time has had on his thoughts and feelings. In the novel Henry is depicted as being very close to nature. He seeks no deeper meaning into what he is viewing. Victor, however, seeks more from nature such as seclusion and contemplation. He needs more from nature than what he is seeing and experiencing. In this way Victor and Henry are foils of each other. Henry can simply accept nature for what it is, while Victor needs to find an inner meaning to it in order to appreciate it. Henry does not need to see beyond the external beauty of nature, while Victor feels that unless he can get something more meaningful out of it then it is useless. Victor can also relate to Wordsworth's younger self in a sense. When Victor was younger he was able to appreciate nature for what it was instead of having to find something in it. This is much like Wordsworth because when he was younger he was able to simply appreciate nature, but as time passed and events transpired his thought process changed and instead of just appreciating nature he needed to find something in it. Both Wordsworth's future self and Victor's future self seek seclusion in nature and it is an important theme in both the novel and the poem. They hope to find in their seclusion in nature tranquility and peace. When Victor creates his "monster" he is tampering with the very fibers of nature itself. He is corrupting its beauty to attempt to create life of his own and be known. This corruption of nature's purity and power ultimately leads to his downfall as the creature he makes turns out to be his worst enemy. The novel is filled with elements of the gothic novel and the romantic movement that was occurring at the time.. It is considered one of the earliest science fiction books and is also considered to be a horror and tragedy novel. She was inspired by many romantic writers of her time due to her writing her work during the time period of the romanticism movement. Tintern Abbey is found on pages 139 and 140 in chapter 18 and is put in a relatively calm scene. She puts the poem her for a variety of reasons. It helps to put the scene in a tranquil and calm light as opposed to one that is action packed or dismal. It is also used as a final thought on the spirit of Henry and how he related to nature. He did not seek anything from nature and as such was harmonious with it.

In Cold Blood: Nature vs. Nurture

                Truman Capote, after researching the Clutter family murder for many years,

masterfully depicts the lives of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, the reaction of a small town

to a brutal tragedy, and the search for the murderers in his non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood.

Perry and Dick take a chance when Dick learns of a wealthy farmer who keeps a safe in his

house that ends badly for the Clutters and Perry and Dick. Capote enlightens us on the lives

of Perry and Dick, the death row inmates, and his own life in order to show the role that

nature vs. nurture plays in affecting peoples’ actions and thought processes.

            In comparing both Dick and Perry’s childhoods, a vast difference can be seen

between them and yet in the end both men ended up in the exact same place. This raises

the question of whether nature or nurture has a bigger impact on a person overall. Perry’s

childhood was an incredibly rough one. His parents were divorced, his mother became an

alcoholic and paid little attention to her children, he was eventually taken in by his father

after being in orphanages for a while, he was taken out of school and traveled around with

his father and was isolated from people his age with who he could become friends with and

learn actual social skills. Perry elaborates on one of his experiences as a child when he says,

“I was severely beaten by the cottage mistress, who had called me names and made fun of

me in front of all the boys” (Capote 275). This shows some of the immense psychological

damage that was done to him as a kid that later impacted his overall character as an adult

and contributed to him eventually slaying the Clutter family. Dick, on the complete opposite

side of the spectrum, grew up with a normal family that loved and cared for him. He

considered his family to be “semi-poor”. His family was hard-working, loving, and worked

to provide him with a good life. He had an average childhood and had education through

high school. Despite all this he eventually ended up as one of the people who murdered and

robbed the Clutter family. These completely opposite childhoods eventually led to these

men murdering a family of four in hopes of making 10,000 dollars easily. This shows that

both nature and nurture impact a person in their mental and physical capabilities.

            In comparing Perry and Capote’s childhoods, one can see many similarities between

the two. Truman rose above a childhood that was troubled by the divorce of his parents,

long absences of his mother, and multiple migrations around the country. This is similar to

Perry’s childhood in the fact that his parents were divorced, his mother was never really

there due to being constantly drunk, and when he lived with his father he roamed around

the country. Their lives can be seen as two people leaving a house, Truman leaving through

the front door while Perry left through the back. Under different circumstances Truman

could have easily ended up like Perry had he not found is passion in writing. This shows

how slightly different psychological patterns and external events can affect the way a

person acts and thinks.

            In looking at the childhoods of the death row inmates, one can see a wide array of

circumstances that have landed these people on death row. Lowell Lee Andrews had a

fairly wealthy and prosperous family. He was described as a quiet knowledgeable boy and

was known as “The Nicest Boy in Wolcott”. Despite his outer appearance, inside him raged

a killer. He desired to have his family’s estate and the wealth that went along with it. The

way he thought about murdering his family was, “he did not dislike any member of his

family, at least not consciously, murdering them seemed the swiftest, most sensible way of

implementing the fantasies that possessed him” (Capote 312). This shows that despite

having a loving environment during his developmental years, he had an innate difference

that left him with a lack of connection between his emotions and his actions. The

childhoods of George York and James Latham were widely different. George had wealthy

parents and was adored by them and his sister. James, on the other hand, was the child of

poor parents who had no interest in him whatsoever. This goes to show that both a

person’s environment and family can impact them as well as their personal mental psyche.

            Nature and nurture are not mutually exclusive from each other. Overall they both

have a major impact on a person’s actions and mental and emotional development.

Homestuck

 If you have not heard of Homestuck before, prepare to be enlightened. Homestuck is a webcomic created by author Andrew Hussie. The gist of it is that a group of friends who know each other from over the internet decide to play a game together that leads to major unintended consequences. Saying anymore would be getting in too deep and is best left to actually reading it. Homestuck is unique in a great variety of ways. It is a collection of static images, gifs, and occasionally interactive games and flash pages. It is also the longest webcomic currently on the internet, with over 7000 pages and still ongoing with daily updates. It is also unique in the relationship between the author and audience. The audience is an active part of what happens and can actually influence events in the story. The story uses the process of starting small and building up until actions spiral down paths that most people wouldn't have even considered considering the humble beginnings. Homestuck is a blend of almost every type of genre including comedy, drama, romance, and action all at once. The characters are alone for the most part of the work. Most of the characters interactions with each other occur in the form of a pesterlog, which is a chat log between two or more of the characters. These pesterlogs reveal many things about the characters themselves, and their feelings and thoughts on the others. Pesterlogs are what help to further develop characters and highlight each one's unique personality and quirks. Homestuck has many pop culture references throughout the entirety of it. These references help make Homestuck feel like a living piece of work and further the flesh out the details of the world as a whole. Nicholas Cage is a recurring character that has has critical plot significance. Hussie attempts to confuse and enlighten  readers through the use of shenanigans. He uses things such as time travel, instantaneous teleportation, multiple universes and instances of them, and made-up words and ideas to convey the scope and spectrum of their journey and what failing would mean. He uses different cultures and alien species to show how people can put aside their differences to work towards a common goal. Unless they join forces to fight a common foe created from the hubris of some, they will perish and whole universes will be destroyed. Death is a concept that carries less wait in Homestuck then in other works. The dead can still contribute and work towards a common goal. This shows that death can be as much of a beginning as it can be an end. There are many themes to be found in Homestuck including teamwork, life and death, fate vs. free-will, coming of age, etc. Hussie uses the media available to him to the fullest in order to make an enjoyable story. Some people even consider it to be the Ulysses of the internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLK7RI_HW-E. If anyone wishes to begin the epic tale that is Homestuck the website is:http://www.mspaintadventures.com/.

Frankenstein: Doubles

 In Frankenstein, there are many doubles that appear throughout the novel. These doubles serve to better illustrate the similarities and differences between the two characters and help bring their glaring personalities into light.
 The characters of Victor Frankenstein and his creation are doubles throughout the entirety of the novel. They both share in sufferings and miseries, both due to Victor's carelessness. If Victor had taken care of his creation instead of abandoning him, they both would have suffered much less in life. The creation wouldn't have dealt with such crippling loneliness if he would have been taken care of by his creator, and Victor wouldn't have had to deal with the death of his friends and family due to his lack of foresight. Another similarity between them is that they both don't realize the effect they are having on the people around them. They were both to busy being miserable to actually think of what their actions would do to the people around them.
 Another double in the novel is Victor Frankenstein and Henry Clerval. Clerval is described as being more lofty, idealized, and effeminate and is complementary to Victor's grim personality. Over the course of the novel, Clerval spends the most time alone with Victor. He is many things to Victor over the course of the novel including a childhood friend, a nurse, a fellow scholar, and a traveling mate. Clerval is one of the only characters able to restore and renew Victor, because it is Clerval who can "call forth the better feelings" of Victor's heart (52). They also both attend the same college, but for different subjects. Victor is focused on the physical sciences, while Clerval is focusing on more of the social side and is busy learning languages. Clerval is worldlier and his dreams are plausible in real life. His dream also demands good character and leadership, making him work on his personality more than the secluded, anti-social Frankenstein. Henry has the dream to, “become one among those whose names are recorded in story, as the gallant and adventurous benefactors of our species” (pg 19). Henry’s ambitions lead him to become a better person rather than defy nature and show the misguided ambitions of Frankenstein. Frankenstein is obsessed with the non-worldly and wishes to defy nature instead of improving it. He wishes to see the secrets behind the universe for no other reason but to find them. Frankenstein’s goals have no particular benefit to himself or society unlike the giving Clerval. While Victor is sinking deeper and deeper in depression, Clerval can be seen to flourish and grow and become even happier. 
 Another double would be between Victor and Walton. Both characters are ambitious for glory and attempt to find it by pursuing a journey of scientific discovery. This journey puts others at risk for the sake of advancement and in turn isolates them and renders them incredibly lonely. These doubles in the novel help to show the inner workings and minds of the characters and why they take the actions they do.