The Secret Agent

Initially, The Secret Agent is not an easy read because of its "jumping" nature. The novel constantly jumps from present to past to flashbacks to everything in between. Once you can get over that then the book's underlying themes start to make some sort of sense. "Mr. Verloc, getting off the sofa with ponderous reluctance, opened the door leading into the kitchen to get more air, and thus disclosed the innocent Stevie, seated very good and quiet at a deal table, drawing circles, circles; innumerable circles, concentric, eccentric; a coruscating whirl of circles that by their tangled multitude of repeated curves, uniformity of form and confusion of intersecting lines suggested a rendering of cosmic chaos, the symbolism of a mad art attempting the inconceivable." In this quote we can see the initial development of the idea of trust in the novel. Stevie, an idealistic, naive, and autistic boy, puts way too much trust in authority. He's an innocent who only intends to do good, but he is tricked and deceived into doing an evil, deadly act. Trust is a dangerous game which can leave one vulnerable, and as the explosion goes off and Stevie dies, the development of trust's dangerous nature is finalized. Without trust, Stevie would have never died. Without trust, Winnie would have never killed her husband. Without trust, the novel would have taken on a completely different turn. The world is not perfect, and there is no reason we should trust and believe every single thing an authority (or government) figure spews out at us.

Othello

Personally, as a biracial male, I can already identify with Othello to some extent. Although I wouldn't classify Othello as a complete outcast, he is certainly different and excluded in many aspects. People, such as Iago, have a strong feeling of jealousy and hatred towards Othello and decide to plot against him. “Were I the Moor I would not be Iago. In following him I follow but myself; Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty, But seeming so for my peculiar end. For when my outward action doth demonstrate The native act and figure of my heart In compliment extern, ’tis not long after." In this quote we can see Iago referring to his tactics against Othello. Although Othello was a very powerful general, he did not have complete power over his emotions. This is possibly the trade-off for years of military work as the social dimension of his life was probably not fully developed. After his deception and suspicion that his wife was a disloyal cheater, his downfall unravels. Jealousy, irrationality, and anger take over his mind. Even after a source confirms to Othello that his wife Desdemona and another man, Cassio, have not done anything that would suggest infidelity, Othello refuses to listen and decides to question Desdemona himself. It is this irrationality that eventually leads to the death of Othello and Desdemona. It was a shock to see that such a simple seed of jealousy and deception planted in Othello's mind could destroy such a confident and powerful man. It goes to show that an emotion as sweet as love is a double-edged sword that can corrupt and destroy.

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

Here is another popular Longfellow poem... and just in time for the holidays. This poem is so popular in fact that it is has been turned into a Christmas carol. Longfellow starts this poem off with the joy of the holiday season. Everyone is happy and singing Christmas carols. Everyone is in a good mood. There is a peace circulating in the air. The refrain repeats, "Of peace on earth, good will to me." Then Longfellow comes back down to reality. He is clearly depressed with a heavy heart. There is no real peace on earth he claims. Evilness and despair are the product of mankind. Even though we are capable of doing good things, we are equally capable (and sometimes more inclined to) creating bad things. Suddenly, Longfellow has another epiphany and decides to end the poem on a more positive note. Surely there is a God out there who is alive and alert. Surely he will make sure that evildoers are punished and that the just will be rewarded. Of course, we all experience a heavy heart every now and then. During the holidays, the tendency for people to feel that gloom increases. In that regard, we can relate to this poem. We can try, as Longfellow does, to see the bright side of a dark situation. However, Longfellow's case was a little bit different. He wrote this poem right after the Civil War began. Of course he felt gloom, despair, and anxiety. Who else can say they personally experienced a time in which their fellow countrymen were fighting and killing each other? Of course Longfellow felt as there was no real peace. To make things even worse, he wrote this at a time when his wife had just died from severe burns. Yet he is still trying to look at the brighter, bigger picture.

A Psalm of Life

This famous Longfellow poem hones in on the topic of life and living. This poem is very relatable because life is a commonality found in all human beings. This is a very feel-good, positive, encouraging, and invigorating piece of work, and because of that, I can identify with its values and core message. Life is an amazing gift with many untapped potentials. Wasting it and watching it quickly pass by would be a sin. We cannot just sit around and wait for death to take us away. Life also should not be centered around our self-indulgence or personal sadness. Every second we are closer to death; this should give us a sense of urgency to make something meaningful out of our lives. We need to make our own destiny rather than allowing ourselves to be led around like sheep and cattle. Our focus should be solely on the present. We need focus on our next move. Worrying about the future and dwelling on the past does us more harm than good. In order to achieve in this life, we need to be patient and hardworking. As a Christian, I can easily follow along as the structure of this poem mimics some sort of extra chapter in the Book of Psalms. It is very easy to feel inspired and motivated by this Longfellow poem. As young kids we were always told by adults to "follow your dreams" and "never give up"; this Longfellow poem reiterates those points.

The Use of Force 4

There are sections in this work which do not move the plot forward. In these sections, William Carlos Williams instead decides to further create an image in our heads. He takes the time to paint the picture more vividly in our minds. "When I arrived I was met by the mother, a big startled looking woman, very clean and apologetic who merely said, Is this the doctor? and let me in. In the back, she added. You must excuse us, doctor, we have her in the kitchen where it is warm. It is very damp here sometimes." In this section, the plot does not go anywhere. William Carlos Williams decides to set up a character so that the reader can better understand and relate. Note the "big startled looking woman, very clean and apologetic." Williams could have simply just have said, "The mom came into the doctor's office" and the plot would still have been the exact same. Williams, however, set her up so that we can get a feel for who she is. The ending to this short story was both predictable and surprising. "She had been hiding that sore throat for three days at least ... Tried to get off her father's lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eyes." If you read the first paragraph and skipped to the ending you would be utterly surprised. Why was the doctor treating this whole thing as a competition. However, as you dig deeper into the doctor's violent behavior, this is clearly the perfect ending. There was no way the doctor would lose this fight. "Others must be protected against her. It is a social necessity. ... One goes on to the end." His mindset is clear. He is determined to go through with this, regardless of the costs, until he succeeds.

The Use of Force 3

Since this short story is set in a time where anesthesia and laughing gas are foreign concepts, I do not necessarily identify with the purpose or values expressed in this work. Personally, I believe that the doctor is an insane man that needs to use excessive force to get what he wants. If using excessive force to accomplish a goal is a value expressed in this story, I clearly don't identify with the story in that aspect. However, in a way, we can identify with the experience of the sick, little girl. I'll make this clear right away: I have never had a doctor forcefully stick a spoon down my throat until I started to bleed. Still, as little kids, most of us have been extremely fearful with going to the doctor's office. Let's be honest, it's a very frightening experience. You initially don't know this strange man with these weird tools. Apparently he is trying to help us, but the only reassurance we can get from our mom and dad is, "He won't hurt you." Just hearing the word "hurt" makes us cringe and, ironically, we are now more fearful than ever. So in this way, I understand why the little girl was so reluctant. She does not know this man nor trust this man... and why should she? The blame should ultimately be placed on the mom and dad. Their job was to calm the little and push her to trust the complete stranger. However, they completely fail and end making her more anxious. They were complete pushovers with no control over their little girl. "The father tried his best, and he was a big man but the fact that she was his daughter, his shame at her behavior and his dread of hurting her made him release her just at the critical times when I had almost achieved success..." Bad parenting at it's finest.

The Use of Force 2

William Carlos Williams is known for his imagery, so unsurprisingly “The Use of Force” is a very vivid and, sometimes, graphic short story. “The child was fairly eating me up with her cold, steady eyes, and no expression to her face whatever … She had magnificent blonde hair, in profusion. One of those picture children often reproduced in advertising leaflets and the photogravure sections of the Sunday papers.” Williams uses detail and familiar concepts (advertising leaflets and the Sunday papers) to better create an image in the reader’s head. He also employs his vivid imagery when he touches on the doctor’s violence: “Then she shrieked terrifyingly, hysterically. Stop it! Stop it! You’re killing me! … but before I could see anything she came down again and gripping the wooden blade between her molars she reduced it to splinters … In a final unreasoning assault I overpowered the child’s neck and jaws. I forced the heavy silver spoon back of her teeth and down her throat till she gagged.” These disturbing scenes are recreated clearly in our heads. I believe Williams does this to clearly show us the madness and the absurdity of the doctor’s behavior. William Carlos Williams also uses an unusual approach in his writing. He flows from the doctor’s narration to dialogue without warning. Even more confusing, he does not even use quotation marks during the dialogue. This makes the text feel a little scattered and unorganized which may serve the purpose of showing us that they doctor might be a little out of it. His mind might be a little scattered and unorganized. He might be going a little crazy. This could explain his erratic and over the top behavior.

The Use of Force 1

In William Carlos Williams' short story, "The Use of Force", everything starts off relatively calm. The doctor initially appears to be a normal doctor dealing with a usual case. There is a sick young girl with a high fever who needs her throat to be checked for diphtheria. This is a serious concern as there have been recent cases of diphtheria related deaths. He smiles and asks nicely for the girl to open her mouth. The girl, however, is reluctant and the idiotic parents refuse to step in and take control of their child. For the two aforementioned reasons, the doctor is visibly getting upset and annoyed. “At that I ground my teeth in disgust,” the doctor says. And in an instance the story takes a whole new turn. “Then the battle began. I had to do it.” He was determined to check the girl’s throat. Although I could sympathize with the doctor for having to deal with such difficult people, I was certainly not expecting the doctor’s change of character. He goes from your average, smiling doctor to an angry, violent, almost psychopathic man who claimed, “I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her.” This change in behavior was still shocking although it was foreshadowed through the doctor’s visible annoyance and disgust with the family. I was surprised with the doctor’s excessive use of force. In this current day and age, a doctor would simply use methods such as using laughing gas and anesthesia to deal with a problem such as this. In my opinion, since force is used over medication, the short story must be set in a time where anesthesia or laughing gas was not available to the general public. Either that or the doctor is just a psychopathic who needs a few more sessions with his therapist.