Journey of the Earnests

Throughout The Importance of Being Earnest,  one of the major details Oscar Wilde implements in order to create his hilarious situations is the double lives that the two main characters, Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing, are trying to pull off. Both of them travel from the city to the countryside and live their double lives accordingly. Wilde uses this physical journey as satire in order to show the attitude of the Victorian society to be hypocritical and fake, as the journey from one place to another shows the two-faced nature of the society in the time.
While both characters lead double lives the way they go about creating their facades are entirely different. Jack lives a very respectful life in the country and is the guardian and mentor for his niece Cecily whom he cares very much for. He is seen as very mature and is sometimes quite bored with this lifestyle. In order to escape this, Jack creates his younger brother Earnest who lives and London and lives a very reckless and exciting life. Jack says that when he goes to London it's for him to look over his brother, but instead it's for him to go and meet the women who he loves named Gwendolen Fairfax. Gwendoen is in love with the name Ernest so he instead says his name is that, adding onto the list of things that aren't true. Jack lies to both his love and his niece in order to keep his double life alive, causing him to contradict himself in many situations, as his lies finally catch up to him as Gwendolen and Cecily confront each other, leading to the fall of his double life. Jack's attitude represents the Victorian period, as his double life from the country to the city shows the facade of respectability people felt they had at the time.
Algernon's motives for his double life are to escape his social obligations in the city and relax in the country. Instead of a brother like Jack, Algernon creates a friend named Bunbury who he frequently went to visit so he wouldn't have to attend dinner with his aunt, Lady Bracknell. Bunbury is always on the verge of death in order for him to miss any social event he doesn't wish to attend. Wilde shows the clear disdain for respect in the Victorian period through Algernon, who carries his life in such a carefree manner, leading him to live a double life.
As it can easily be seen, Oscar Wilde clearly had a purpose behind the plot of The Importance of Being Earnest as it was to satirize the Victorian society's hypocritical and superficial aspect through the two bachelor's double lives. The physical journey from the countryside to the city allowed to this to be shown, as Jack still wanted to be respected even when living the double life. They both created fictional characters in order to show this as well. All these aspects implemented together helped show Wilde's criticism on the hypocritical nature of the Victorian society.

The Art of Poetry

"I knew a woman" by Theodore Roathke, page 398

The speaker uses an array of literary techniques to further describe his love and attraction to the women he once knew. One of the most important examples in adding to the meaning of the poem is the metaphor used in lines 12-15. He stated, "She was the sickle; I, poor I, the rake, Coming behind her for her pretty sake, (But what prodigious mowing we did make)." A sickle has a curved blade, while the rake is straight, meaning the rake resembles the male speaker while the the sickle represents the women. I feel as though the "prodigious mowing" that he is referring to can actually be them having sex, as the rake is also coming behind the sickle. The way the speaker is hinting at this action with garden tools is genius, as it further explains where their relationship had once been, and that is the epitome of love. Not only this, but it also keeps the poem from becoming vulgar.

The most prominent technique used to describe the women is point of view. By writing the poem in first person, direct emotions from a person who once had a sexual relationship with her can be used. Also, while the first three stanzas are written in the past tense, the final stanza is written in the present tense with the speaker thinking back about the women. With the line, "I swear she casts a shadow white as stone" it can be assumed that the women is no longer with him and possibly dead, since the white stone could be a grave stone. However, the women will always live with him, as seen by the final line, "(I measure time by how a body sways)." The poem is not supposed to be sad that she is no longer with him, but instead in joyous memory of what is remembered of her.

The reason I chose this poem as one of the two to put on my blog is because it really has a great message about celebrating past loves instead of feeling saddened that they are no longer with you. Not only this, but the women being described is very happy and attractive, which adds to the fun of having the speaker remember his times with her. The comparisons made about the women are joyous and pleasant and nothing negative is remembered about the women, which is why it is clearly seen that the speakers words about the women are only filled with love and memory.

"I wandered lonely as a cloud" by William Wordsworth, page 422

One of the most prominent themes in this poem is nature and how there is a connection between it and the speaker. There is no better technique that can be used to show this connection other than personification, which is very prominent in this poem. By describing the daffodils as "Tossing their heads in sprightly dance," it makes it so that elements of nature are doing things like humans, creating a type of connection between the two. When the speaker is dancing with the daffodils, it seems there is nothing else he would rather do besides it. The aspect he loves the most is that they dance with him, and he doesn't feel alone when doing so because he's surrounded by the beauty and freedom of nature. Also, whenever he is feeling lonely and glum, all he has to do is think of the dancing daffodils and his heart will be overcome with the joy of the dancing flowers.

This poem is famous for it's first four lines. The first two lines are a metaphor, which is a very clever comparison of the speaker to a cloud. It opens, "I wandered lonely as a cloud, That floats on high o'er vales and hills." The metaphor adds to both themes of nature and happiness, as the cloud is overjoyed when spotting the field of daffodils. There is only the one cloud in the air, and this makes him lonely as clouds are used to being with other clouds. This is similar to humans and their need to be with someone else.  As the cloud is looking down, it sees the flowers dancing and this makes him feel less alone and instead joyful. By making it a single cloud, this shows that the speaker feels lonely before seeing the flowers. By emphasizing the theme of appreciating nature, the speaker is no longer lonely whenever thinking of the flowers, because their dancing makes him feel happy as well.

The great aspect of this poem is that it's themes of nature and happiness can be used by anyone to make their lives better. The way that William Wordsworth uses the dancing daffodils as the element in nature which makes the speaker feel less lonely and more happy can be something used by everyone. People should pick something they find the most beautiful in nature and when they're feeling down they can just think of that and it could possibly help them feel more at peace with the world, just like in the poem. For me, I would think of a sunset on the beach, as this picture always makes me feel more content with my life. There are so many beautiful parts of nature that everyone should find at least one aspect which makes them feel happy.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Women's roles in society is a major theme that occurs in the work.  In the novel, the sole purpose for women to live is to please the man. Gilead has the women do specific jobs just to please the Commander. The Marthas are the cooks, the Handmaids are the baby makers and the Wives are there to look presentable and support the husband. They are not allowed to make any decisions for themselves and are not even supposed to think for themselves. The beliefs portrayed in the society of Gilead are exaggerated views of the Bible which depicts women as being inferior to men. Starting with Eve being the first to eat from the forbidden tree this view has been the case since the beginning of time. While the society depicted is overblown in the beliefs of the Bible it does show the unscrupulous viewpoints of the most famous piece of literature in the history of mankind. The issue of the work may not be the viewpoints perceived in a piece of literature written over two thousand years ago, but instead the fact that people today strictly abide by it's beliefs all these years following. The most evident issue shown in The Handmaid's Tale is women being objectified, which is still a common occurrence now in the 21st century. The source of this issue is the Bible which makes it a very difficult issue to discuss with people.With many worshiping this book as nothing but pure holiness it is almost impossible to discuss its issues with most people.  Now don't misunderstand me. There are many life lessons shown in the Bible which can help make the world a better place to live in. But it is not all perfect. Issues such as slavery and the inferiority of women are also made clear. People do not have to give up reading the Bible, but they have to realize that not everything depicted in it is correct. Times have changed and so has society and it is unacceptable to hold the belief that men are superior to women. They are just as, if not more, intelligent than men, as shown by Atwood in the Scrabble scene with Offred and the Commander. Offred demolished her master by using words such as "prolix" and " larynx" while the Commander used "go home." Atwood also does a phenomenal job showing what will happen to a society that strictly follows the beliefs of the Bible. No one is happy, not even the Commander. Serena Joy, who strived for a society like the one of Gilead was not even happy with how the society turned out. The outcome of Gilead and the experiences of Offred and all the characters in the novel should be a lesson to anyone who says the Bible should be precisely followed. No one will be happy if that is the case, as the women will have no lives of their own, and the men will feel like barbaric pigs. In a perfect world, both genders would be treated equally and everyone would be happy. Unless people drop the belief depicted in the Bible that women are less than men, this will never be the case.

"Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping. Inside it is a space, huge as the sky at night and dark and curved like that, though black-red rather than black" (Atwood 73). This is by far my favorite line from the novel because it sums up in just a few sentences all that Offred and the other Handmaids are good for in the society of Gilead, and that is their ability to become pregnant. By saying that she is "around a central object" and "more real than I am" Offred is saying that the only thing that symbolizes her is her uterus, no matter what she does or says. The entire purpose for her existence is to get pregnant, and she has to endure this burden. The way she describes her womb as being black as the sky enforces this as being a curse rather than a gift.



The purpose for Margaret Atwood to write The Handmaid's Tale was to depict modern society in a way that people would reflect on it and change their actions and beliefs. She undoubtedly succeeded in her endeavor, as she clearly shows time and time again the bad that comes out of objectifying women. Today in society women are still not treated equally, as sexist jokes and beliefs are carried out daily. By making it so every character is unhappy in a society where women have no rights, it is clearly shown that a world with these beliefs will lead to turmoil and chaos. Every issue is made to highlight part of our culture and it is done with such brilliance that you cannot help but get emotional towards the characters while reading it. You get attached to the characters along the way, especially Offred, because of all the suffering she has gone through, such as losing her child as well as the love of her life. One of the criticisms a person could have with the book is that the end is unclear in what happens to Offred and you don't know her outcome. But the reason Atwood does this is because the point of the novel is not Offred's story but  instead to highlight the terrible aspects of the society through her. This was another brilliant choice of writing by the author. I feel the novel is one of the most influential books that can be read, as its beliefs of equality can be implemented in our society and our sexist beliefs need to be changed or else we will end up in turmoil like Gilead did. It is truly a novel that should be read by everyone.