Thinker or Doer?

Am I a thinker or a doer? I do not believe I can pick one. I do not consider myself to fall on one side or the other, rather somewhere in between. So maybe that makes me a thinker- the fact that I will not choose one specific answer. But in another sense it makes me a doer because I have come to the conclusion that I am neither yet uphold both at the same time.

                As a thinker, I see both sides of situations and conflicts before I act. I think about who is affected, what my options are, and the possible outcomes. As a thinker I think before I act. But I cannot say this is always the case. I am in a grey area where sometimes it is darker and sometimes it is lighter, never do I choose the same shade.

                As a doer, I am often cautious or the opposite. Making decisions is not my forte, I would rather be told what to do rather than to be given the option to choose. These decisions can lead me to go back and forth between my options or can cause me to choose one blindly. Although rare, choosing blindly has often proven as a poor decision. I would rather think things through first.

                So in that case I am a thinker. As you can tell I cannot choose exactly where I fall. This in itself may prove that yet it could also be argued that by thinking things through, I am “doing”. I could sway back and forth endlessly on the matter and still come to the same conclusion: I am neither a thinker nor a doer, yet I am made up of qualities of each.

Explication of “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath

The poem’s purpose is to reflect on how people’s, particularly women’s perception of themselves changes with age. The tone shifts from light to melancholy between the first and second stanza.

The first depiction of reflection is through a mirror. With the mirror as the speaker, it portrays itself in a god-like manner describing itself as “silver”, with “no preconceptions”, and as the “eye of a little god”. This description suggests that the mirror, like a god, judges truthfully but is “not cruel”. With the light tone, the author depicts this as a positive aspect. Therefore, the mirror reflects an image that the author is content with. The “pink[…speckled]” wall could represent a child’s room, which is a “part of [its] heart” suggesting that the author will always be young at heart. The perception of one’s self through a mirror is clear, however in a lake it is permeable and ever changing.

Using a lake as a mirror symbolizes a change in the author’s or women’s perception of themselves which is reinforced by the shift in tone. Although it is unclear of who views themselves in the mirror, Plath specifies that a “woman bends over” the lake. This suggests that with age, women view themselves differently. This stanza of the poem is much darker than the first one. The lake criticized the light which the woman turns to for truth calling the candles and the moon liars. These two objects provide light in otherwise dark situations, suggesting that the lake upholds a godly manner like the mirror. To the lake, the woman provides it light because she “replaces the darkness”. This could mean that the lake is almost territorial of her. In a simile, the woman is compared to a “terrible fish” which suggests that she views her aging negatively- as if coming nearer to death every day. By personifying both the lake and the mirror, Plath makes the reflectors seem like the physical representation of the conscious of a woman.

To Be Or Not To Be?

                To buy the expensive sweater or not to buy? To buy would mean another option of clothing to wear to school which could lead to taking a longer time in the morning deciding on what to wear. Or it could quicken the process, for if it is worth its cost, there should be few options to contest with it. To buy would mean to own another clothing item suitable for winter, which is a necessity with the cold quickly approaching. If it is just right in size, shape, material, and color I could wear it with multiple outfits in many ways, using it to its fullest extent. However, is the large expense worth the product?  What I would splurge on one sweater could buy a tank of gas to last a week, groceries that last for days, and who knows what else. The money I would save could be put towards so many useful necessities of life which could benefit me any time of the year.  But a good sweater can last many years, providing warmth to an otherwise freezing torso. If the money were to be used for something I need, it would only go to a temporary cause.  So it ultimately turns into a competition of need versus want: of necessities versus desires. I want nothing more than to have a fashionable and functional sweater but at the cost of my hard earned money? Working minimum wage, it would take at least seven and a half hour  to afford the sweater I so desire. So the sweater, in reality, is costing me more time than money. Instead of being, say, 60 dollars, it costs over seven hours of time which is over two shifts at my job and I can only work one shift a day. So is that sweater really worth two days of my time? Probably not. But will I end up buying it? probably.

Parenting Methods- Hamlet (2.1-2.2)

Polonius seems very insightful when it comes to his children. However, this is only true on the surface, for underneath it is much different. Polonius sends Reynaldo to basically spy on his son. Polonius is contradicting of himself when he instructs Reynaldo to ask around about Laertes yet “observe [Laertes’] inclination in [himself]” (2.1.78). This parenting method is strange on current standards. If he truly desired to find out how his son was doing, he could visit him himself or write him a letter.  It contradicts his initial speech to Laertes before he leaves when he advises him not to talk to anyone yet not to be shy. Well, if Laertes truly listens to his father, he shouldn’t talk to Reynaldo in the first place. Even so, if Reynaldo asks acquaintances of Laertes about him, they may not be reliable sources. Polonius acknowledges this yet disregards it at the same time.

Meanwhile, Polonius’ reaction to Ophelia can be considered normal. I find it interesting that he blames his own advice for hamlet going crazy. If this had truly been the cause of his craziness, why would Polonius go to the king instead of Hamlet himself? I find it standard for a father to look out for his daughter. Polonius is sorry that his advice potentially caused this and blames himself. This whole scene shows just how much Ophelia respects and listens to the wishes of her father. This mirrors Hamlet’s devotion to his father and contrasts his lack of loyalty to his uncle-father.

On the other hand, Gertrude and Claudius order Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to find out what is wrong with Hamlet. This corresponds to the indirect parenting method of Polonius. The difference is that Gertrude and Claudius are sending Hamlet’s friends, which seems much more dependable and not as strange.

"The last Night She Lived" by Emily Dickinson

After reading the poem for the first, my initial impression was that it is about a girl who commits suicide. She uses the pronoun “us” and “we” to include the reader. What I found interesting about this is that she capitalizes these words, as if categorizing herself and the reader as one being. Through capitalizing many nouns, Dickinson turns them into pronouns. In doing so she personifies many elements of the poem, suggesting that things that are non-living are in fact living in some way.

After reading it a second time, I no longer believe that “She” commits suicide. Instead, it might be about dying in general however not by choice. I think the water reference in the poem is a symbol of change; the change from life to death and/ or the change the living experiences. She uses light to describe the hope “upon our Minds” (7) which suggests that we hope for the best in the worst case scenarios. By capitalizing “Minds” Dickinson makes it appear like another person or character in the poem which attributes to overlooking “Her” death.  She uses the simile “lightly as a Reed” (22) to portray death as a gentle thing. This new tone of gentleness flows through the rest of the poem, almost hauntingly. This is especially true when she says: “And We-We placed the Hair/And drew the Head erect-/ And then an awful leisure was/ Belief to regulate-” (25-28). I believe this quote is referring to a funeral and how “she” appears leisurely, how things are “supposed” to be. Using “the” right before the pronoun contradicts the fact that “hair” and “head”, physical human parts, are portrayed as living when “She” is actually dead. The repetition of “we” sounds like a stutter, symbolizing that the reader is a part of this experience, and that both the reader and the author are hesitant about death. The dashes used throughout the last part of the poem further emphasize Dickinson’s hesitation about death which contradicts the jealousy she feels towards “her”.

Lastly, I find the title interesting. It mirrors the first line and uses “live” in the past tense even though the poem is about her death. This alters my perception of the poem but I can’t pinpoint how. However, another theory I have is that it might be a feminist perspective due to the use of “she” throughout the poem.

             

 

Reflection: Initial impression of Hamlet

My initial impression of King Claudius is that he greatly enjoys his newfound power. He keeps referring to himself as various forms of “the king” which suggests that he is trying to prove to himself and to others that he really is the new king now. It also suggests that he is trying to convince those around him that he is fit for the job, if not better than his predecessor. He seems arrogant and he is up to something by the way he pushes Hamlet. By insulting Hamlet’s manhood in order to show him that he should stop grieving over his dead father, Claudius reveals just how suspicious his whole new role truly is. Claudius is trying so hard to make it seem as though he is the new King Hamlet who he seems to desire to be better than. Neither Claudius nor Queen Gertrude seems as phased by the former King’s death as Hamlet does. Gertrude even encourages Hamlet to get over his father’s death.  I would think both Gertrude and Claudius would be more mournful than they are, especially considering their great loss. It is suspicious and Hamlet is aware of this. He is very observant and seems to be catching on to his mother and new step-father when he speaks of the closeness in timing of the funeral and the wedding.  He seems like the victim of circumstances in the case of his father however by the way Laertes and Ophelia portray about him, he seems full of poor intentions. Each character and situation appears to have two sides and only one has been fully revealed thus far.