Blood Wedding-#6

I think that the most miserable character in the story is the mother. She has to spend all her time basically alone besides her son. Her other son and husband were both killed and she has to deal with them being gone. Her son is also moving on and getting married and she will soon have no one with her. She wants a daughter because then she would have someone that would be safe and be able to always be with her. She expresses her misery very openly with her son whenever a knife is brought up and constantly worries about her son and tries to protect him and keep him safe. She wants to keep her son to herself so she won't be alone, but has to put her happiness aside in order for him to be happy.

Blood Wedding-#5

One large archetype that I saw in the play was a necessity to be wealthy and from that wealth you are able to be married. This is shown through the bridegroom. He had to save up money for several years before he could purchase the vineyard. The vineyard is a way to show his social status and that he is capable of getting married and supporting a wife. Leonardo and the bride have really strong feelings for each other and had strong feelings for each other but they didn't get married. The bride needed someone with a higher social status. I don't think Lorca supports the idea that status is necessary in order to be married. Lorca is advocating that people should get married out of love and not because of what one has to offer.

Blood Wedding-#4

The knife is a very obvious symbol that is used in the Blood Wedding. The mother rants about how much she hates knives and how bad they are. She says "Damn all of them!" and later talking about knives says "Anything that can cut into a man's body!" (6) From this quote I think the knife can be an actual thing but I think it can also be something emotional. Like the issues with Leonardo and the groom. Another symbol that I saw was water. Water gives life to everything especially their land. "The children who take water out to the reapers are black from the sun" (16). Water is vital to survival and ultimately your social status. The more water you have the better your land is and the more money you have.

Wild Duck #3

I think Gregers, Gina, and Werle are at fault for what happens. Gregers is the instigator in the story and causes all the events that transpire. He uncovers the truth and makes it his mission to let everyone know and has no regard for the consequences that could later happen. Gina and Werle are also to blame because they both knew everything that was happening and never took it upon themselves to tell Hjalmar or anyone else the truth. They kept everything a secret for far too long. If they told the truth from the start the following events like Hedvig's death may not have occured. I think Hedvig and Hjalmar are without blame. Hjalmar never really knew about the lies and was unaware of what had happened. He could have also been more perceptive and noticed that things added up. Hedvig should have no blame because it was about her and she couldn't have known anything about what was happening. Gregers deserves to take responsibility for almost all of the problems because he is the one that starts all the drama and problems that happen in the play. It is possible that none of the events would have happened if Gregers did nothing about what he learned. Gregers is the only character that takes responsibility for the blame because at the end of the story he accepts that he is the 13th man at the table showing that he is the one who is not a part of the group and caused all the problems.

Wild Duck #2

Ibsen uses the motif to show how lies are a sickness that damages your body and mind. Characters are seen as sick by Gregers if they are unaware of the truth. Relling views people as sick if they try to tell others the truth. “Beg pardon—but it wouldn’t be you who brought that stench in with you from the mines up there?” (174) This could be because it isn't Gregers place to tell or because Gregers is doing it for personal reasons. “No, worse luck. He’s no crazier that most people. But he’s got a disease in his system all the same.” (177) Gregers makes it his life mission to reveal all the secrets that are hidden from Hjalmar. He is only doing this because it is a way for him to get back at his father. Werle and Gregers have problems that started when Gregers was a kid. People with the disease also drink alcohol like Hjalmar and Molvik. “And demonic natures aren’t made to go through life on the straight and narrow; they’ve got to take detours every so often. Well—and you’re still sticking it out there at that dark, hideous mill.” (172) Relling acknowledges the disease and the people that have them and knows how to help them. He is also a doctor which supports this claim.Gregers on the other hand does not but is committed to his ways of helping Hjalmar which only makes things worse.

Wild Duck #1

Greggers has false conceptions about himself. He thinks he is a righteous guy who is on a life mission and will do anything to accomplish it even if it means hurting people. Greggers views himself as a high and mighty person for being on his life mission. He also believes in some religion about the "summons of the ideals". From what other characters said about it it seems bad but he thinks he's good for worshiping it. Hjalmar seems to have misconceptions about everybody. He doesn't really know the truth about anyone and blindly accepts what he is told. He views Old Werle as a good man who helped him out, and Greggers is his good old friend who only has his best interests at heart. When in reality Greggers is trying to be helpful but all he ends up doing is hurting him in the end. Hjalmar embraces the facades of the other characters because he is unaware that the other characters have facades. Relling clearly sees Greggers' facade and will constantly confront it. He will call Greggers out on the things he says and does to Hjalmar and his family.

We #3

Motif- The same motifs that were discussed in the first two journals are still being used in the last part of the book. The primary concept that comes from a lot of the motifs in the story is a soul. The soul is referenced through the use of mirrors, imaginary numbers, and fog. All of these obscure what something truly is, isn't tangible, or is a reflection showing the real you. The soul can also be linked to imagination. An imagination pulls away from logical and clear thinking. That is why the government considers an imagination to be a disease and comes up with the Great Operation which cuts out the part of the brain dealing with imagination. "On the following day, I, D-503, went to the benefactor and told him everything I knew about the enemies of happiness. How could it have seemed so difficult before? Incredible. The only explanation I can think of is my former sickness (the soul)" (232). The government is able to gain complete control of the society through this operation and D is ultimately subjected to this operation and follows the government blindly. Zamyatin is trying to show that if the government suppresses ones imagination there is no way to revolt and overthrow the government.

Setting- The setting is still the same. There is a place outside the Green Wall that is more known now. On the outside there are people unlike those on the inside. They are covered in fur and have adapted to living outside the wall. "All this was so incredible, so unexpected, that I stood calmly (yes, calmly!) and looked" (156). D is able to see that they are the people that have the imagination and might be possible of overthrowing the government. Outside the walls there is no influence of the government. This makes them the best possible way for the society to be changed into something better.

Language- As D's "disease" worsens he doesn't finish his thoughts more frequently and also begins to drift away from his logical point of views. "And the same within me: I must not think, I must not think, I must not think, or ..." (226). D tries to not think about what he should do and commits himself to an idea without even thinking it through. This shows how his soul affects him. But after he undergoes the Great Operation he goes back to his logical flow that he wrote in during the first journal entries. "And i hope that we shall conquer. More than that--I am certain we shall conquer. Because Reason must prevail" (232). D is back to his logical way of thinking following Reason. After his imagination is taken out he reverts back to his normal way of thinking which is beneficial to the One State. Zamyatin is showing that an imagination should go together with logic or else you will blindly follow what you are told.