Tracking concept-quotes and comparison

Quotes related to the search for truth:

The Wild Duck Quotes:

"Greg: I intend to open Hialmar Ekdal's eyes. He shall see his position as it really is-that is all."

"Greg: Yes, an amazingly clever dog; one that goes to the bottom after wild ducks when they dive and bite themselves fast in tangle and sea-weed, down among the ooze."

"Rell: Well, I'll tell you, Mrs. Ekdal. He is suffering from an acute attack of integrity."

Throughout "The Wild Duck", Ibsen uses the motif of searching for truth. Gregers is the one who searches for the truth of the Ekdal family, while the doctor Relling dismisses him as a hopeless idealist and believes that the "life-illusion" should remain intact. The three quotes above show Gregers' belief that he is going to "open the eyes" of Hialmar, and pull him up from "among the ooze" of his father's lies. Relling, on the other hand, diagnoses Gregers with "an acute attack of integrity", and he believes that things will remain better if the Ekdals do not have to face the harsh realities of their lives. The main reason that Ibsen uses this motif of the quest for the truth is to raise the possibility in the audience's mind that sometimes the truth is better left covered up. He does not seem to take one explicit side or the other, but he does raise the question of whether or not the truth should be revealed even if it is harmful.


"Blood Wedding Quotes"

"I just don't know. Suddenly, like this, it always takes me by surprise. It's true, isn't it? Well-behaved. Hard-working. She bakes her own bread, and sews her own skirts, yet I feel, when she's named, as if I'd been struck on the forhead with a stone".

"MOTHER: Do you know my son's fiancee?
NEIGHBOR: A good girl!
MOTHER: Yes, but..."

"MOTHER:Everyone wants to know about what affects them. Who was the boy?
NEIGHBOUR: Leonardo.
MOTHER: Which Leonardo?
NEiGHBOUR: Leonardo...of the Felix family.
MOTHER: (rising) A Felix!"

In "Blood "Wedding", the motif of searching for truth is not as obvious as it is in "The Wild Duck", but it is still kind of present. The character of the mother is the one that is, if not searching for the truth, suspicous about the Bride and her family. Her suspicions later turn out to be correct when the Bride runs away with Leonardo. The main purpose having the mother be suspicious of the son's wedding is probably to forshadow what happens in act 2 when the Bride runs away with Leonardo. This makes it more dramatic when act 2 is shown and the Bride actually does run away with Leonardo.

Blood Wedding Act 3

"A dramatist often creates a gap between what the audience knows and what teh characters know. With reference to at least two plays, discuss how and to what effect dramatists have used this technique."

Dramatic irony is a common feature in drama and tragedy. When dramatic irony occurs, the audience is aware of something that the characters in the play are not aware of. Dramatic irony is used in both "Oedipus" and "Blood Wedding

The story of "Oedipus" was a well-known myth to the ancient greeks who first converted it into a play, and the audience knew the basic plot of the story. Thus it was no surprise to them when they found out that it was Oedipus that murdered his father and slept with his mother. However, to the characters in the play, none of this was forseen, and they did not know what was going to happen in the end. All of this places the audience one step ahead of the characters, and it heightens the suspense of the story as they watch what they know are the futile efforts of Oedipus to find out if the prophecy is true.

Like "Oedipus", "Blood Wedding" also makes use of dramatic irony in the storyline. Unlike "Oedipus", most of the audience was probably not familiar with the play, and the irony instead comes when they watch the Bride talk to Leonardo in a scene that the Bridegroom cannot see. Like all dramtic irony, this results in the audience being aware of some thing that the characters (in this case the bridegroom) are not aware of. In this case, the suspense in the play is raised because the audience knows that a character (the Bridegroom) is acting on information that is false.

Blood Wedding Journal-Point of View

Like many of the other works we have read, Blood Wedding is written from an omnescient point of view. The play shows what is happening from the bridegroom's perspective, the bride's perspective and Leonardo's perspective.

The play opens from the perspective of the bridegroom and his mother.
"Bridegroom: (entering) Mother.
Mother: What?
Bridegroom: I'm off.
Mother: Where to?
Bridegroom: To the vineyard"

This opening scene of the Bridegroom talking to his mother sets him up as the protagonist of the play. Because he is not doing anything in particular that would get the audience to dislike him, and becuase he is the main character in the opening scene of the play, the audience automatically assumes that he is the main character, and the audience automatically sympathizes with him.

Later in the play, the action shifts to the bride and her family.
"Maid: I'll finish doing your hair here.
Bride" I can't stand it inside, it's so hot.
Maid: In this place it's not even cool at dawn.

Because the point of view is omnescient and not first person, the viewpoint shifts at the end of act one and when act two begins the scene is set with the Bride and her family preparing for the wedding. In the scenes before this the bridegroom and his mother talk of his impending mairrage to the bride, so the audience is led to believe that the bride is basically on the side of the bridegroom in whatever conflict arises.

The point of view in Blood Wedding appears to be reliable, and there is no reason to suspect that it is concealing information.

Journal on Blood Wedding Act One-Setting

In this Journal entry I will look a little bit into how the setting of Blood Wedding has affected the novel.

So far it seems that Blood Wedding is set in Spain sometime in the early 20th century. People still ride horses, but there are cars as well, and the climate is warm and suitible for growing grapes

One way in which the setting of Blood Wedding affects the novel is simply the plot. When the Bridegroom and the Mother go and visit the Bride, they travel by horses for about four hours to get there. "Good; but too remote. A four hour journey, and not a house or a tree". In addition, this setting allows for the introduction of the symbol of grapes. "Never mind. I'll eat grapes. Give me a knife." I am not yet sure what the grapes are a symbol for, but they are probably a symbol for something.

In addition to this relatively superficial effect on the plot, the setting in Blood Wedding also allows the author to look at women's role in society. In Blood Wedding, the mairrage between the Bridegroom and the Bride appears to be mostly arranged, with neither side really having a complete say in the matter. In addition, the Bride is a submissive and obedient woman in around her father and future husband. Her father says that she "never speaks out; is as soft and gentle as wool; she embroiders all sorts of embroidery...". When the Bride does come into the room, "Her hands are folded modestly and her head is bowed". By chosing to set the play in a place and time period where these behaviors are the norm, the author is able to examine them in the novel. I will know more about this as I read more of the novel.

Connections-the search for truth.

In both The Wild Duck and Oedipus the King, there is a motif of characters searching for the truth when it is concealed.

In The Wild Duck, this motif is especially prominent. In Act I of the play, Gregers comes home to find that Gina has married Hialmar, and he is immediately suspicious of his father.

WER. What do you mean by that? [flaring up] You are not alluding to me, I hope?

GREG. [softly but firmly]. Yes, I am alluding to you.

This immediate suspicion of possible deciet begins Gregers search for the untainted truth behind his father's relationship with the Ekdals. To do this he goes to live with the Ekdals and reveal the lies that his father has created.

In Oedipus the King, the search for truth takes a different form. Oedipus begins the play looking for the man who killed his father, which is in a way a search for the truth behind the murder.
When he is told that he must find the murderer, he says to the supplicants,

"Well, I will start afresh and once again Make dark things clear"

This desire to "make dark things clear" is the driving force in the play. As the play moves on, Oedipus begins to suspect that the oracle was correct and that he himself was the one who murdered his father. Here he is still engaged in the search for truth, only it has shifted slightly so he is searching to see if the predictions of the Oracle are correct.

Both authors likely use this motif to highlight the complexity of the world and the fact that, despite the hero's greatness they are still only humans struggling against the forces of fate, or the world.

Journal Entry

This journal will be a reaction to the dinner part in The Wild Duck, by Gregers.

"The dinner party last night ended up being a disaster for me. I talked for a while with my old friend Hialmar, and I learned of his current situation of being married to Gina. My mind had immediately went to the memory of my mother telling me of father's infedelities. When I confronted him about this, he practically admitted it! After that, he even offered me a job to further bury the rumors of him and Gina Needless to say, I declined. I was so disgusted by the old man that I left him completely. Tomorrow I will go to Hialmar and tell him the truth of him and Gina that he deserves

The Wild Duck-stylistic techniques

Here I will be going over some basic stylistic techniquest that Henrik has used so far in The Wild Duck



One of the stylistic techniques that is most obvious to the reader is Henrik's focus on sensory detail in the play. In contrast to Oedipus the King, Henrik goes into great detail on where each scene is, how it is arranged, who is there, and what is going on. The description at the beginning of Act II reads:

"SCENE: HIALMAR EKDAL'S S studio, a good sized room, evidently at the top stroy of the building. On the right, a sloping roof of large panes of glass, half-covered by a blue curtain. In the right-hand corner, at the back, the entrance door; farther forward, on the same side, a doo leading to the sitting room. Two doors on the opposite side, and between them an iron stove. At the back, a wide double sliding door. The studio is plainly but comfortably fitted and furnished. Between the doors on the right, standing out a little from the wall, a sofa with a table and some chairs; on the table a lighted lamp with a shade; beside the stove an old arm-chair. Photographic instruments and apparatus of different kinds lying about the room. Against the back wall, to the left of the double door, stands a bookcase containing a few books, boxes, and bottles of chemicals, intstruments, tools and other objects. Photographs and small articles, such as camel's hair pencils, paper, and so forth, lie on the table.



This huge amount of detail in the set corresponds wiht theatre's increasing focus on realism and naturalism around this time period. Unlike the greeks and earlier playwrites, Henrik makes the set and scenery a window into the lives of characters that act oblivious to the presence of the audience.

Henrik also makes use of symbolism in the play. The titular wild duck who lives with the Ekdals could symbolize the web of deciet that Werles is trying to maintain. In the play, the duck is said to have wanted to dive to the bottom of the river and never come up, rather like Werles wanting his deception to not be discovered or announced. Gregers, who says he wants to "be a clever dog" wants to be like the dog that dragged the duck to the surface. This symbolizes Gregers drudging up the lies of his father and exposing them for what they are.

The Wild Duck journal-themes and ideas

As I was reading the first act of The Wild Duck, it occured to me that a recurring motif/theme in the play is lies and a desire to find out the truth.

The character Werles, for example, has decieved his son for the 17 years that he has been gone. He has not fully explained Hialmar's mairrage, and has only briefly mentioned it. When Werles arrives home, he is surprised that it is to Gina. In addition, it is unclear on whether Werles himself had an affair with Gina, but if he did, then he is decieving his son again. If he did not, then his wife was the one decieving herself and Gregers. Werles is also decieving Hialmar, not telling him the truth of Gina and his relationship, if there was one. His interest and support of Hialmar and Gina suggest that there is some sort of deciet going on.

Gregers, arriving home, is the one who is trying to discover the truth of what has been going on in his absence. When he and his father talk, he finds out who exactly Hialmar married and is suspicious of his father's role in this.

Overall it seems like Werles is maintaining this web of lies and manipulation, and that Gregers is trying to see through it. It seems like a pretty strong theme/motif.

Question 2

Should Oedipus have attempted to find out if he murdered his father, or should he have just lived in ignorant bliss?

Question 1

How does Oedipus symbolize free will?

Well I'm feeling better about the IOP tomorrow, but I will still probably practice it a few times in the morning. Here is the basic script of what I'm going to say:

For my IOP I will be looking at how cultural and historical events of the time period are processed by the author and appear in We

First some background on the author, Yevgeny Zamyatin

He studied naval engineering in St. Petersburg from 1902-1908, and during this time he joined the Bolsheviks
In the 1905 revolution, he was arrested, but he returned to St. Petersburg illegally and began writing fiction as a hobby
He was arrested and exiled a second time in 1911 but was given amnesty in 1913
He was tried again the next year for his story At World’s End, which criticized the military.
During this time he also contributed to various socialist newspapers
After graduating as a naval engineer he worked in England to supervise the construction of icebreakers

When 1917, came Zamyatin supported the October revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power, but he opposed the system of censorship that they brought with them.
As time went on, his works became increasingly critical of the soviet union, such as the book We.
He once stated “…” This antiestablishment mindset pervades We, by satirizing the folly of the totalitarian state

Because Zamyatin was living in the Soviet Union, he was heavily influenced by the totalitarianism going on there. This totalitarinism shows up in a number of way in the book

This was the name of the Secret Police in the early years of the Soviet Union. Like in We, the Cheka basically served as the arm of the state, eliminating anyone who did not conform to the state’s idea of a perfect society. It policed labor camps, ran the gulag system, subjected political opponents to torture and execution, and put down rebellions and riots by workers and peasents

One way in which totalitarianism appears is through the secret police. In We the Office of the Guardians functions as the secret police for the One State
This first passage shows the nature of the secret police and surveillance that the numbers of the One State go through. In addition, it shows that the secret police is portrayed as being positive, and is viewed as being “lovingly protecting”. This passage really shows the sarcastic tone that Zamyatin is taking. He is basically saying that the secret police is a good thing sarcastically to criticize the Soviet Union. This is a result of Zamyatin’s oppression from the Soviet Union
This second passage shows some of the power of the secret police-it is required that numbers who have seen a crime report to the office of the guardians

In We, the One State is ruled by the Benefactor, who is all powerful. This is basically a criticism of the early leaders of the soviet union, especially Lennin. Like the benefactor lennin was an autocrat who was loved by most of the citizens.
In this passage, like the other, Zamyatin is really using a sarcastic tone to satirize the soviet union. He compares the Benefactor to “white robed Spider” who has “bound us”, and yet he still supports the benefactor because he has been brainwashed his entire life

In We, the Benefactor is reelected unanimously every year on Unanimity Day. This is pretty much a criticism of the nature of democracy in the Soviet Union’s early years. Although people in the soviet union could vote, they could only vote for people selected by the Communist Party. In fact, until 1987, candidates in the Soviet Union usually received about 99% of the vote.

In We the structure of life is controlled for maximum effeciency. There are extensive mathematical metaphors that go along with this.

Zamyatin was working as a shipbuilder during this time, and the workplace was starting to focus on increasing efficiency and production. A lot of this is due to one man: Fredrick Winslow Taylor.
Taylor was an industrial engineer who sought to improve industrial effeciency. He thought that by analyzing a work cycle, one could find “one best way to work”. He would do this by breaking a job into its component parts and measuring each to the hundredth of a second.
For example, he found that the most efficient shovel could carry 21 and a half pounds, and he designed shovels to carry that amount

In We the numbers have an entire philosophy of Taylorism that they have applied to every aspect of their lives. Like in the other instances, Zamyatin’s personal experience has motivated him to be critical of totalitarianism, in this case, the totalitarianism of Taylor.
The revolutionary leader Lenin was also a supporter of Taylor. So overall Zamyatin’s featuring of Taylorism in We is to criticize its controlling nature when applied to the workplace and the soviet union. He does this by looking at an exaggerated version of it and satirically supporting it.

In We, the One State is constructing a spaceship, the Integral, to conquer other planets and spread their way of life. This is basically a criticism of the Marxist view of a global Communist State, of one group forcefully spreading their idea of a perfect society to other cultures for their own good.

The basic view of a marxist international communist revolution is that a revolution in one country will be followed by revolutions in other countries as the workers rise up and take power. When this didn’t happen the Soviet union was trying to “export communism” so to speak, and spread their idea of a perfect society.
This is where the integral comes in. The integral basically symbolizes this desire of the soviet union to spread the perfect society, except it is going to be spread to other planets, not other countries.
Given Zamyatin’s history with the Soviet Union, it is not surprising that he would criticize them, as he has before.
This quote shows the marxist ultimate goal of a global communist state

Today I got some work done on the powerpoint, but I had some trouble figuring out how to get it to work, so it still has a long way to go. I will be pretty busy tomorrow finishing it up. I still have no idea if it is going to be within the time limit or not, so I will have to figure that out as well. After it is done, I will probably practice presenting it a few times. I really don't feel ready to do it on Monday, but I probably will by tomorrow.

IOP journal 3

So far I have made a pretty detailed outline of what I am going to do on Monday. I will start off talking about totalitarianism, then rationalization of labor, and finally the concept of exporting revolution. I think I will presenting this in the form of a powerpoint, so I will make it tomorrow and fill in all the details and quotes that I still need to find. I will edit the powerpoint on Sunday and probably add in some more analysis, and then I will be ready to present on Monday. So overall I think I'm set for the IOP

Oedipus is told from the third person point of view. There is no narrator that describes what is happening, each of the characters just say there lines and there is no special focus on any of them.

When Teiresias addresses Oedipus he says:

"He shall be proved the brother and the sire,
Of her who bare him son and husband bother,
Co-partner, and assasin of his sire.
Go in and ponder this, and if thou find
That I have missed the mark, henceforthe declare
I have no wit nor skill in prophecy"
(Exuent Teiresias and Oedipus)

This is an example of the third person point of view that is used. No character in specific is focused on, and after Teiresias is done him and Oedipus exit, and the audience is focused instead on the chorus. When the characters speak, there is no reason that they would be concealing information from the audience, and the narrative is reliable.

Because this is a play, the audience sees each of the characters speak, the audience gets to know the characters more than if it were told from the first person point of view. Each of the characters is well-presented, and they are credible and believable, at least from the ancient greek perspective. The authour wants the audience to sympathize especially with Oedipus, becuase he is the main character and the play is a tragedy. The author mainly gets the audience to sympathize Oedipus through characterization: he is a noble, benevolent king who cares about his subjects and is trying to accomplish a task given to him by the gods. In addition, other characters such as the supplicants, the chorus, or his subjects, like and respect Oedipus.

Detailed Outline

Outline of Individual Oral Presentation. This will look at the cultural setting of the work and the influence of the culture in specific instances in the book “We”
I) Totalitarianism

A) In We, the atmosphere of totalitarianism is a product of Zamyatin’s history with the Soviet Union
1) Zamyatin supported the 1905 revolution and published articles in the socialist magazines at the time
2) Zamyatin also supported the October revolution of 1917, although he opposed the system of censorship under the Bolsheviks and became increasingly critical of the regime.
(a) “True literature can only exist when it is created, not by diligent and reliable officials, but by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels and skeptics” –Zamyatin
3) This antiestablishment, creative mindset pervades the novel We by satirizing the folly of the totalitarian state.
(a) Most of this criticism is aimed at the Soviet Union
B) The Secret Police
1) In We, the Gaurdians police the citizens to make sure they are following the rules.
2) Secret Police featured heavily in the Soviet Union
(a) KGB, NKVD, ect.
(b) Informers also
(i) Some Poster/quote urging people to inform on disloyalty
C) The Benefactor
1) In “We” he is the all-powerful leader of the One State
(a) Some quote
2) Influenced by powerful leaders supported by propaganda depicting them as benevolent and kind
(a) Lenin, Stalin
(i)
(ii) Some old propaganda poster
D) Unanimity Day
1) Everyone votes for the same person
(a) Quote
(b) Brainwashed masses
2) Influenced by the quasi-democracy of the Soviet Union
(a) One-party democracy (commies)
(b) Some example.
II) Rationalization of labor
A) In We every number’s life is strictly controlled for maximum efficiency
1) Extensive mathematical metaphors play into this
(a) Root -1
(b) X
(c) Mathematical language
B) Zamyatin was working as a shipbuilder during the time of increasing efficiency
1) Fredrick Winslow Taylor was an industrial engineer who sought to improve efficiency
(a) He thought that by analyzing a work cycle, “one best way” to do work would be found
(b) He would do this by breaking a job into its component parts and then measuring each to the hundredth of a second
(c) For example, he determined that the most efficient shovel could carry 21 and a half pounds, and he designed shovels that could carry that amount
2) In We the numbers follow the philosophy of Taylorism
C) Lennin was also a supporter of Taylor, so by including the idea of Taylorism Zamyatin criticizes the controlling nature of the rationalization of labor and the Soviet Union which supports it
1) “We must raise the question of piece-work and apply and test it in practice; we must raise the question of applying much of what is scientific and progressive in the Taylor system”
D) Zamyatin’s criticism of Taylor goes along with his views of the Soviet Union: at first supporting but then not
III) International Communism/ The Integral
A) Basically a criticism of Marxist theory on worldwide revolution
1) A revolution in one country would be followed by others in other parts of the world
(a) “to make the revolution permanent until all the more or less propertied classes have been driven from their ruling positions, until the proletariat has conquered state power and until the association of the proletarians has progressed sufficiently far – not only in one country but in all the leading countries of the world – that competition between the proletarians of these countries ceases and at least the decisive forces of production are concentrated in the hands of the workers.” -Marx
(b) This obviously did not happen.
2) However, through organizations such as the Internationale, the Soviet Union was in support of exporting communism
(a) This is where the integral comes in
(i) It criticizes the idea of one culture forcefully implementing their idea of a more evolved society onto a less evolved one
· Communism onto capitalism
· Taylorism onto the aliens
(ii) Quote
(iii) Quote
(iv) Quote

Wednesday Journal

I found the information on greed theatre helpful as I read through the play.

The choruswas one instance that I found slightly confusing at first. After the priest and supplicants leave Oedipus in the beginning of the play, the chorus explains the situation of the plague in a drawn out speech.

Wasted thus by death on death
All our city perisheth.
Corpses spread infection round;
None to tend or mourn is found.
Wailin on the altar stair
Wives and grandmas rend the air--
Long-drawn moans and peircing cries
Blent with prayers and litanies
Golden child of Zeus, O hear,
Let thine angel face appear.

Here the chorus offers some background to the audience about the ongoing plague. This in turn is eventually explained by Laius's murder.

In addition, the information on a tragedy as the fall of the important and powerful is supported by the play. Oedipus is powerful, benevolent, and wise, and he eventually kills his father and marries his mother. This makes the play tragic, as opposed to just sad.

The Effect of Setting

This play was written over 2000 years ago so it has a very different cultural setting than any of the other works we have read.

The political setting is very different than our modern political setting. In the beginning of the play, Oedipus is addressing the concerns of the citizens . This reflects the political system of the time: kings were in power who were expected to listen to the needs of the citizens and be benevolent. Although the city of Athens did experiment with a more democratic system, overall the mediterranian area was still ruled by autocratic leaders, and this is shown in Oedipus.

The cultural setting is shown as well. One example is the religious beliefs. In the time period when this play was produced, most people in Greece believed in a variety of gods and goddesses who intervened in human affairs, each of them with their own "jurisdiction"; for example Hades was in charge of the underworld. In Oedipus Rex, the Oedipus informs the citizens that he has sent out Creon to speak to the oracle of Delphi to bring word from the gods. This reflects the culture of ancient Greece: Gods and Goddesses could be asked for help, an oracle would be able to talk to the Gods and Goddesses, and they would help those who asked.

Overall this different setting creates the feeling that the book is very old, which it is. It also gives it the feeling of being slightly exotic, because it is so different from the modern and almost modern works which we have been reading

Basic Outline Idea

This is a rough outline of what I have so far:

1) Rationalization of labor
a) Life in the one state is highly organized, regimented, ect.
i) Influences
(1) Zamyatin’s experience as a shipbuilder
(a) This was during the time that labor was becoming rationalized
(b) Winslow Taylor, scientific management
(i) “Taylorism”
(2) The Soviet Union
(a) Zamyatin eventually left Soviet Union and did not support it
(b) Like the one state it is a highly regimented and communal
(c) Taylor supported by Stalin
2) The Soviet Union
a) Highly structured and communal
i) Examples
b) Stalin is supportive of Taylor
i) Quote
c) Zamyatin doesn’t like soviet Union
i) History
3) Exporting Revolution
a) Marxsim/Lenninism/Trotskyism
i) Internationalists
(1) The Internationale, ect
b) Goal of many was one world state, many tried to “export revolution”
i) Quotes on exporting revolution
c) The Integral
i) Spreading “superior way of life”
(1) Shows that zamyatin views soviets as being arrogant, ect
ii) Quote
iii) quote1)