The Allegory of the Cave: Truth v. Reality

The Allegory of the Cave speaks directly to truth and reality. Socrates is teaching Glaucon about the ignorance people live in and the difficulty of learning the truth. According to his allegory, Socrates compares it to the pain of sunlight hitting your eyes once you leave the darkness of the cave. In the end the truth is worthwhile, but it takes time to adjust to, as Socrates explains, “And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves…” The Allegory creates a division between reality and truth, what I take away from Socrates lesson is that they are not on in the same. A reality is what surrounds you and is what you believe. The dark cave where the chained men are is a reality. Although to the student it is clear the shadows are not real, rather illusions to the chained men they are the truth because it is all they see and all they can believe in, therefore making it a reality. In the allegory, the truth or the light removes the student from this reality. The reality is broken apart by the truth because when a man is free from the chains and darkness by seeing and adjusting to the light he is then able to see the shadows were just illusions and can now see and even touch the real thing. In the case of the allegory, reality and truth are different because reality is not necessarily true it is what one takes away from their surroundings whereas the truth can break apart this reality by showing what is false about it, therefore creating a new reality.

We Real Cool

 "We Real Cool"
Gwendolyn Brooks

        THE POOL PLAYERS. 
        SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.
We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon

“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks is a poem we’ve studied in class that really sticks out to me.  The simplicity of the poem and yet all that implies really impresses me. The first thing I noticed about the poem is the connotation of “We.” Brook’s use of “We” casts the group of people she is speaking of as different from all the rest, the rebels of society. The slang of the poem is key to understanding its subject. The slang breaks the rules of conventional speaking, instead of saying “We are real cool” it’s “We real cool.” The connotation of this slang further implies the “rebel” qualities of the pool players, breaking societies rules. Besides slang, the connotation of words like “lurk” and “strike” opens up more of how we may see these pool players. “Lurk” and “strike” are words can describe creatures powerful creatures in the jungle. The connotation of these words shows these rebels want to be seen as in charge.  Lastly the last stanza really caught my attention. The ending, ‘We die soon, “ did not really catch my eye as much as “We jazz June.” The fact these boys will die soon is implied it’s obvious their life motto is “live hard and die young.’ Brooks use of jazz as a verb perfect for the last verse. When I think of jazz I think of freedom, improvisation, breaking the rules-just like the musical style did. The connotation I had of this word fit the opinion I had formed of these boys: they are rebels; they are free to do as they please because they don’t care about the consequences.

My Papa's Waltz

My Papa's Waltz

Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death:

Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans               (5)
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mother's countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;         (10)
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed
              (15)

Still clinging to your shirt.

“My Papa’s Waltz” is a small boy’s account of he and his father’s waltz before he is put to bed. Throughout the poem implications can be made about the family dynamic, specifically the father and son relationship. For instance, the boy clearly admires his father, clinging to him, as he “hung on like death” (L3) and his ear scrapes against his father’s belt (L12). Also, one may even go as far as to say he feels the some respect toward his mother as he notes his mother’s frown of disapproval (8). In addition, after reading the poem there was a definite sense of the fathers figure in the family as, “the man of the house.” The entire waltz is under the father’s control, the boy clings to him; he keeps time on the boy’s head and the mother a disapproving bystander makes no effort to control or stop this waltz or rather romp. Overall, the poem is a young boy’s memory of his time with his father.

There has been some controversy over the true meaning of the poem. Some argue this poem alludes to the abusive tendencies of an alcoholic father whereas some believe it is the happy memory of a young boy. These accusations of abuse can be entertained as there are mentions of pain, “My right ear scraped a buckle,” and “You beat time on my head/With a palm caked hard by dirt. In addition, Roethke’s choice of words like “battered,” “beat,” “scrape,” and “belt” can fuel the debate of the possibility of abuse. Lastly, the fact that the father is intoxicated may lead one to believe he could be in an aggravated as opposed to having a nice buzz. On the other hand, some background on Roethke can argue this is simply a boy’s happy memory. Roethke’s father died when he was 15 years old and led to bouts of mental illness. The mention of death in line 3 and the boy clinging to his fathers shirt in the first and last stanza all indicate attachment to the father, and possibly mirror Roethke’s attachment to his father. I would like to think this poem is a boy’s happy memory of his father, a father he clearly admires. Overall, the poem has many connotations its up to the reader to chose what they believe.

Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a story will definitely get a reaction from its readers. The story is about Connie who constantly conflicts with her family. The Connie known by her family makes fun of her older sister June and is constantly at odds with her mom, she believes these problems stem from her beauty which her mother used to have but doesn’t any more. She listens to music, hangs out with friends and is constantly worrying about her looks. However, when Connie leaves her family she takes on a different persona. She explores her maturity, trying to understand her sexuality as she begins to date. Connie becomes increasingly aware of her persona, trying to behave in an appealing way for the guys she sees and meets. When she hangs out with her friend, she sneaks off to the local diner, and has a date where she briefly encounters Arnold Friend. Connie notices Arnold as he shouts to her she notices his ostentatious car and his wild hair and then goes back to focusing on her date. However the next day, Arnold pays a visit to Connie while she’s home alone. At first Connie does not realize the magnitude of the situation, he’s just a boy whose come to get her attention. Initially he is appealing in a dangerous bad boy kind of way. Arnold’s character builds during this situation as we see he is a very mismatched person. Connie notes he is not impressive appearance wise, he tries to stands relaxed, but he’s working very hard to emulate this. Also, he has translucent skin, is tiny not much taller than she is and he’s older, she is 15 and he is 30. The moment Connie really notices something is up when she realizes his age, which she tell by looking at him but also because his car has a saying on it from an older class at her high school. Soon after the realization, Arnold begins to make demands of her telling her he wants her to take a ride with him.

As Arnold demands Connie to leave with him, his humanity comes into question.  Arnold tries to convince Connie by using specific details of her life to persuade her, like when he tells her, “I know your parents and sister are gone somewheres and I know where and how long they're going to be gone, and I know who you were with last night, and your best girl friend's name is Betty.” After reading the story, I believe the situation where Arnold wants to convince Connie to come with him is Connie’s mind’s way of facing adulthood. Throughout the story Connie always has two separate personalities, the Connie her parents know, and the mature version of herself when she’s away from them. Arnold is a personified version of adulthood. When he first comes to the house, she puts on her persona to allure Arnold but after she begins to get freaked out she reverts to the girl her parents know, her “true” self. She becomes a child, she doesn’t know what to do after some time to get out of the situation- he keeps trying to convince her, bullying her psychologically, to leave but she doesn’t want to- and while trying to call the police, she cries for her mother and then faints. Eventually gives in to Arnold/adulthood, she finally reconciles both of her selves. 

How to Find a Good Short Story

When was the last time you read a short story in second person? To be honest, I couldn’t remember reading one before. First and third person tend to be the easiest way to build characters and plot. Whenever I thought of second person I felt it was a way of commanding you to do something, not a perspective to write a story from. However Lorrie Moore proved me wrong. The first story I read by her was, “How to Become a Writer.” The short story begins like a list, “First, try to be something, anything, else.  A movie star/astronaut.  A movie star missionary.  A movie star/kindergarten teacher.  President of the World.  Fail miserably.” At first you feel she’s addressing you, but then she provides anecdotes, which take you away from the “list.” The steps segue into these comical anecdotes about how Francie, the main character, found herself changing her major to English and deciding to pursue a career as a writer. The anecdotes take you from fourteen-year-old Francie to her college years. The second person creates an intimacy between you and Francie, you understand you are not her and yet your grasping exactly how she felt and what was going through her mind all these different times. It also helps being a teenage girl, and having moments where you felt similarly. Moore’s perspective of second person really intrigued me as a writer because I had never seen something like this done before, and pulled off. My interest in her writing style pushed me to buy more of her short stories from the book, Self Help. So far I have been really impressed with “Self Help,” I found more second person point of view short stories, which I loved like “How to Be an Other Women.”

Basically, if you're looking for some good short stories, check out Lorrie Moore.

What do I want from AP Lit?

Once my shock at all the novels on the AP summer reading list settled I found myself really excited. For the most part, the novels and authors required and recommended to read I had never really heard of. Yes I knew who Graham Greene was and Oscar Wilde, but I had never heard of Zora Neale Hurston (and I wound up really enjoying Their Eyes Were Watching God).  I noticed my list of novels I want to read expanding way beyond what I had expected. Prior to AP Lit my books were always easy reads, and very plot driven (like young adult novels) but now it includes Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, which to be honest I never thought would happen.  Since AP Lit has started, my hopes of reading novels that are more challenging and valued literarily has been and continues to be fulfilled. In addition my ability to analyze novels improves with each class. For instance, working with theme, beyond one-word concepts like death or phrases like man v. man, allows me to fully develop major themes.  Another motive for signing up for AP Lit was my writing skills. Every in class writing assignment helps my writing evolve for the better.  Whether my score improves or not I learn more about my writing like what I do right, or wrong, or need to work on. Overall, I intend to use what I learn from AP Lit to enhance the way I choose, analyze, and write about novels.

Insomnia by Dana Gioia

Now you hear what the house has to say.

Pipes clanking, water running in the dark,

the mortgaged walls shifting in discomfort,

and voices mounting in an endless drone

of small complaints like the sounds of a family

that year by year you've learned how to ignore.

But now you must listen to the things you own,

all that you've worked for these past years,

the murmur of property, of things in disrepair,

the moving parts about to come undone,

and twisting in the sheets remember all

the faces you could not bring yourself to love.

How many voices have escaped you until now,

the venting furnace, the floorboards underfoot,

the steady accusations of the clock

numbering the minutes no one will mark.

The terrible clarity this moment brings,

the useless insight, the unbroken dark.

When I read Gioia's Insomnia, I immediately fell in love with what I thought to be the overall message or theme of the poem. Gioia personifies the house in the very first line, "Now you hear what the house has to say." He continues to add to the character of the house, by considering the noises of the house voices, " And voices mounting in an endless drone of small complaints like the sounds of a family..." and "How many voices have escaped you until now." The characteristics of the house, like the shifting walls and its voice, remind its owner of their horrible prioritizing skills. The owner spent to much of their life trying to make money and to own the best and finest things for the house. The voices the owner hears result from things that are broken like a faucet that leaks , "water running in the dark." The voices of the broken items are a metaphor for the broken life of the owner, who has nothing more than material objects. In addition to the metaphor, I felt there was a mood/tone of regret for putting possessions before people, when Gioia writes, "Remember all the faces you could not bring yourself to love."  Lastly the rhyming in the concluding stanza is noteworthy.  The rhyming within the last 3 lines (which is the only rhyming in the poem), ending with "mark" and "dark," emphasize the completion of the poet's thought with what he says in the last paragraph. Gioia ends the poem with the loneliness of the owner who finally in the darkness realizes the uselessness of material possessions and the value of the people you love.  "Numbering the minutes no one will mark," is a powerful line within the poem which renders intimate relationships more valuable than possessions which the owner doesn't realize until now. Overall, what Gioia's insomnia taught me was our material possessions, iPods and televisions should not be valued greatly however the relationships in our lives should.