Reading a Passage in Balzac’s Père Goriot This passage in Honorè de Balzac’s novel Père Goriot describes the ultimatum Rastignac gives to himself after experiencing a harsh transition of luxury to filth, as he sees it. Before Rastignac enters his meek lodgings he has a life altering discussion with Madame de Beausèant. They talked about the price he would have to pay to gain acceptance into Parisian high society. The contrast he experiences ultimately fuels his greed and reckless behavior. This drives him further on to his mission of making his fortune. In a close reading of this passage the narrator takes turns of telling Rastignac’s point of view and his own. The adjectives used to describe Rastignac’s actions and thoughts add to the sense of urgency he feels. The sharp contrast between the elegant and the common is made more prevalent in Rastignac’s eyes. Though the narrator is describing what Rastignac is thinking and feeling his disproval and mocking contradictions come through. The narrator exclaims that Rastignac “was still no more than a child!” If Rastignac had had a moment of realization that he was inexperienced and naive this would change his character completely. But, it was only the narrator pointing out how young he is. The narrator implies that with youth comes ambitious-stupidity (sentence 7). The narrator diminishes Rastignac’s dual goals completely. Rastignac has a “dream” of becoming an educated man and a man of fortune. According to the narrator these are two “trenches,” “asymmetric lines, can never meet.” The narrator use of language implies that Rastingac is an ill prepared youth that cannot do both these things (sentences 6, 8). When the narrator describes the influence on Rastingac by Madame... ... middle of paper ... ...ves with (sentence 1). Instead he takes the initiative to learn from his cousin and become a part of the desirable “social intercourse” that she described to him (sentence 4). To Rastingac he will have nothing but “scars” to show for his hard work if goes the conventional route (sentence 4). The “contrast was too absolute” his two worlds became black and white. He wants to belong and rule both of them. He believes he has the drive and ambition to accomplish this. This passage is a breaking point for Rastingac, he can no longer take the prospect of hard living. He wants more. His decision here ripples through the rest of the novel as the foundation for his actions. Rastignac is taking on a dangerous feat to make these two worlds meet. The urgency and desperation wins his heart in the end. He chooses the easy way, the more noble way out of his circumstances.
The narrative opens with a holiday feast in King Arthur’s court. The richness of this setting is represented by the decorations surrounding Queen Guenevere described in lines 76-80. “With costly silk curtains, a canopy over,/ Of Toulouse and Turkestan tapestries rich/ All broidered and bordered with the best gems/ Ever brought into Britain, with bright pennies/ to pay.” These lines also symbolize the queen’s role in the poem of a stately symbol of chivalric Camelot and as a female ideal. In this setting women are all around, but Guenevere is positioned above them and is surrounded by expensive, beautiful things. She is clearly made superior.
Edmund Perry’s maintaining the same personality toward both his peers from home and Exeter is a mental journey by itself. Dealing with racism at Exeter has put Edmund through a journey mentally trying to keep his temper and follow his personality and qualities, although the racism finally bothered him to a maximum point that Edmund change. Edmund has experienced a journey by altering environments drastically from predominantly black neighborhood to a predominantly white school that might have strength his personality. At Exeter, Eddie was the strong student that he showed to be in Junior High. Edmund tells us a testimony of Herney, “He was, said those who had taught and coached him, matured for his age, serious, studious, determined and not at all in awe of the strange new world that was Phillips Exeter.”(114) I maintain the same qualities that his teachers and coaches saw him as. I also see a similarity in the way we use these qualities, to excel in education as Edmund did. After a situation at Exeter, explained in the book, Edmund says that “Eddie didn 't let any group or clique tie him down, which is kind of amazing… He could be with black people, and he could be with white people and he could be with himself.” (165) I connect strongly to this feeling or way of life. I feel as though, I do not need to have a certain group or clique to be with, all I need is myself. I am not racist nor judgemental so can be with and enjoy myself with any group nor clique. Recently, I have entered an art piece into the Teen Arts annual festival. I was placed in a group that had individuals that I have never conversated. This journey has pushed me to make conversation and still enjoy myself, and I took the opportunity to get to know them and create a sort of friendship. Being tied down to a specific group will aid you to lose a chance of getting to know other individuals and
In keeping with the atmosphere of her story, the book is written almost as though her two main characters are keeping journals. The stories of Bishop Latour and Father Vaillant, who have adopted this rugged lifestyle, are told in little vignettes separated by chapters. Each vignette narrates a meaningful incident in their lives. I find it interesting that each chapter, or vignette, can stand on its own as an independent short story, yet it is woven together to create a tapestry of the Father's lives, with the people they meet and places they go tying it all together. Cather put it best when, in the book, she says, "Observing them thus in repose, in the act of reflection, Father Latour was thinking how each of these men not only had a story, but seemed to have become his story" (182).
Furthermore, within the play these "facades" belonging to the confident upper classes of the period are like wise displayed amongst the lower classes. For example, during the interaction between Christine and Katharina Binder (pp. 133-135 ), Katharina almost lectures Christine on the appropriate and expected behaviour of young working class girls within the Viennese `Vorstadt' - it
...interracial relationships. However because of the way he acts when he hears about the two of them, it is obvious that he has led a sheltered life. But even after his entire life of not understanding what was going on in the world around him, one night with Robert enlightened him and changed his view on people and his surrounding environment.
In this novel, the society is centered around dichotomies; “youth and dotage” (Balzac 67), “the young man who has possessions and the young man that has nothing” and “the young man who thinks and the young man who spends” (87). Any person who falls outside of either box is called a “[child] who learn[s]… too late” or can “never appear in polite society” (87), essentially meaning they are undesirable in a formal society because they cannot follow expectations. The titular character, Paquita, is an “oriental” foreigner, from Havana, domesticated in Paris when she was sold to a wealthy woman who desired her. She fits into no culture entirely, as she is “part Asian houri on her mother’s side, part European through education, and part tropical by birth” (122). She is bisexual, choosing neither men nor women over the other. She is controlling, dressing Henri in women’s clothing (119), but controlled as she is reduced to a possession. However, there are ways in which a person can still be desired even if they are not easily pigeonholed. With her golden eyes and sensuality, Paquita fulfills both of the main pursuits of this society, “gold and pleasure” (68). Consequently, unlike the Marquis and his irrelevance in society, Paquita is highly sought after, thus making her a valuable commodity. Her desirability is not because of who she is as a human, but instead what
Deep down, Raskolnikov’s motives behind his deed amount to something profound in the end, how he rejects his past and learns much from it. Santangelo’s criticism touches on the meaning of Raskolnikov’s motives, but seems incomplete in terms of the impact their resolutions have on the end of the novel and Dostoyevsky’s message. This is where the motives transform into greater meanings. How does Raskolnikov redeem himself at the end? Is there one choice that explains the action? Each of his choices alone and together are gripping because seldomly is a person’s emergence from transgression the product of a single force. All results are intertwined with unfathomable levels of choice that begin subliminally but come down to a conscious decision. Dostoyevsky had the audacity to expose the root complexity of human emotion, then show how it can consciously choose its ending, happy or unhappy. Raskolnikov’s redemption was a public, pragmatic, individual, and ideological
In his book Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais uses satire to address the dislocation felt by Renaissance Humanists. By providing an exaggerated fable, comical in nature, Rabelais poses a serious introspection into the extremes of both the Medieval and the Renaissance man. More importantly, however, he brings into question his own ideals of Humanism. Through an analysis of Rabelais’ satirical technique and by examining his social parody of the Medieval and the Renaissance man, we are able to better understand Rabelais’ introspection into the ideals of his own generation and to accept his argument that learning is transitory and often a necessary, yet futile, attempt to understand our world.
In Charles Baudelaire’s “The Old Acrobat,” the flaneur describes his encounter with a fallen figure who eventually reveals the lack of humanity in the city people’s hardened hearts. The flaneur finds comfort in people with border personality types because he can easily relate to them. He is an idler in a world which concentrates on excess, over-stimulation and one of which runs on a constant invisible ticking clock that pushes the masses towards desensitization and unhappiness. These, among many other pretentious things, make him seek out the uncommon populace, a breed of seemingly raw people who live their lives in front of the world’s eyes. He is bored and uninterested in the ennui, commonplace people who make up the majority of society because they can create facades to shield their faults from the world’s view. Rather than concentrating on the mundane and masked life of the middle and upper class, the flanuer focuses his attention towards the transient, eccentric “drifting clouds”1 who are not a part of the active social milieu.
is the understanding of this "rich" character. In this study I will try to analyze some of his traits (invisibility-lack of indentity , blindness) and his journey from idealism to a grim realism about the racism that confronts him in the story.
In order to understand what changes happen to twist the views of the 2 main characters in both novels, it is important to see the outlook of the two at the beginning of the novels in comparison ...
Torn between his sense of morality and his belief in nihilism, Raskolnikov becomes estranged from society. Nihilism is the rejection of all moral and religious principles and even that life is meaningless. Throughout the novel, Raskolnikov is trying to relieve the tensions between these two extremes. In the beginning, Raskolnikov has hit a low point within his life. He feels helpless because his sister is marrying for money to help his family, he is beyond poverty and cannot even afford to pay rent, and he has no job. Raskolnikov feels at the mercy of the world and completely and utterly helpless. He hates having to rely upon the Pawnbroker for help and even money. When the idea first pops into his head to murder the pawnbroker, it starts to become a potential reality. The ideology of murder is masked behind Raskolnikov’s belief that it would be for the greater good to eliminate the pawnbroker because of her mean spirited nature. Driven mad by the possibility of a choice, which Raskolnikov convinces himself exists because of nihilism. Raskolnikov because of his torn morality goes between extreme submissiveness to over powering those around him. Overall, Raskolnikov decides to commit the murder in an attempt to see if he can transcend his morality. This is what Terras refers to in the context of The Brothers Karamazov, where tensions between Raskolnikov’s façade and his true self are creating an external and internal struggle that causes him to have a
...nza shows Baudelaire’s materialism, the things that would be there the kind of place it would be. Baudelaire describes a place that its seems he tried to create through frivolously spending on fine furniture and clothes. This perfect place with “flowers of rarest bloom… [and] gold ceilings would there be”(18, 21), has all the fine and beautiful things they want. To Baudelaire this is beautiful to live somewhere with fine expensive things where they can be together for a long time with “furniture that wears the lustre of the years” (15-16). He continues to dream of this place he wishes to bring his love in the last stanza discussing the “drowsy ships” (31) which bring all the wealth of the world to this place, where the sun sets “slowly the land is rolled sleepward under a sea of gentle fire” (39-40) over a town covered in gold and flowers.
After reading the story I feel the meaning is only to express the authors dislike for French society. The story attempts to dissect and embarrass the upper class of the society. Rabelais seems to cover all the bases by including his thoughts on the church, education, and French fashion. He goes about insulting these categories with such care and passion it gets his point across with dark humor. I feel that the author definitely accomplished everything he wanted with Gargantua and Pantagruel.
Acknowledging Barthes’s theory allows the reader to break free of dictatorship the author may posses by promoting the reader to freely think about the pieces of literature such as Balthazar’s Marvelous Afternoon. Autonomous thinking gives the reader the advantage of discovering the duplicity of a potential underlying connotation or simply deciding not to delve deeper for hidden implications that may be sought out by the author. Barthes’s, The Death of the Author, provides the reader with knowledge and enlightenment in order to have the freedom to dive and think critically about the subject and characters written about in the narrative by Balzac. Barthes’s, The Death of the Author, proposes literary theories that can be directly related to the subjectivity of how a reader chooses to synthesis the meaning or meaninglessness of Balthazar’s Marvelous Afternoon.