Ivan Turgenev

As Ivan Turgenev states in his thesis, I believe there are two types of men, as Shakespeare states in Hamlet, “To be or not to be”. Turgenev then expands this theory and states that men can either the as Hamlet or as Don Quixote, and later compares them both. He states that Don Quixote acts for others, he lives in a fantasy in which he serves others, and indeed he does. Don Quixote is constantly rescuing people, looking for adventures, castles and maidens in trouble, even though he could die in the act. Unlike him there’s Hamlet, a man too selfish and intellectual to act immediately. Hamlet plans every single step for the kings murder, and does not act until the end of the play. According to Turgenev the main character suffers from scepticism, he acts secure, does not risk his life, cares a lot for how he appears, or seems, to people, and feels no pity at all for himself or others; this may indicate a case of narcissism. However, in my opinion Turgenev is right; you can only find these two types of people, either brave and with principles or egoist and scepticism, reason why Ivan Turgenev later states that in this world there are more Hamlets than Don Quixotes.

TO BE OR NOT TO BE

http://sdeambrosifictions.blogspot.com/2011/11/to-be-or-not-to-be.html

Time at Lady Catherine s

During Christmas time, the Gardiners, come visit the Bennets. Ms. Gardiner invites Jane to London with them so that she could have a chance of seeing Mr. Bingley, contrary to Elizabeth who believes that Mr. Darcy and Bingley s sisters will keep them apart. According to Jane s aunt, she does not blame anybody for his absence since women’s “vanity often deceives” them, and agrees with Elizabeth on Darcy being a spoiled and selfish men. In one of Wickham s visits to Longbourn, she tells Ms. Gardiner about how Darcy fooled him and his father s petition. Ms Gardiner believes this since she used to live near Darcy s estate, Pemberly, and had heard stuff about his pride. Although Mr. Wickham had appeared to be a good man to Ms. Gardiner, she believes it would not be the best choice for Elizabeth since neither of them posses a lot of money and if they marry they would be terrible poor. Elizabeth does not know how to react, and tells her that they are only friends, but that she will distant him. The Gardiners return to London and after a period of time Elizabeth receives two letters, one from Charlotte, begging her to visit her on March with Sir William, and another one from Jane, telling her that she had visited Mr. Bingley but due to her sisters, she was not able to see him until six weeks after her visit to him. In response, Elizabeth tells Ms. Gardiner that Wickham has left to chase a young girl with a large fortune inherited from his dead grandfather. Then, Elizabeth starts her journey to Hunsford to visit Charlotte, and stops in London for a night with Sir William and his daughter. During her stay Elizabeth notices that Jane has not fully recovered, and is still sad about Mr. Bingley. She then comments this with Ms. Gardiner, who starts talking about Wickham. Elizabeth tells her that he has run to seduce the rich girl and Ms. Gardiner invites her to vacation with them the next summer so that she could forget about Wickham. When they arrive Elizabeth notices the awkwardness around Collins but, despite her thoughts, her friendship with Charlotte has not changed. During her stay Mr. Collins allures about his relationship with Lady Catherine De Bourgh and all his connections to her. The next night they are invited to a dinner at Lady Catherine s. During her visit there, Mr. Collins does not stop showing off Lady Catherines wealth, “From the entrance-hall, of which Mr. Collins pointed out, with a rapturous air, the fine proportion and the finished ornaments”. Elizabeth suddenly starts believing everything that Wickham had told them about the De Bourgh, the aspects of Miss De Bourgh and her mother where exactly like he had described. During the dinner she does not show herself afraid of Lady Catherine by accepting the opinions and critics from her, like the rest of the people present. Sir William stays only a week, although Elizabeth and Maria stay longer. Two weeks later Mr. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam arrive to Lady Catherine s for Easter. During this time, Lady Catherine visits constantly Charlotte to advice her how to handle her house. Elizabeth is friendly to Colonel Fitzwilliam, although she is still rude to Mr. Darcy and tries to figure out whether he was keeping Jane apart from Mr. Bingley, but Darcy pretends he does not know what she was talking about. They then get invited on Easter to Lady Catherines dinner, where Elizabeth spends an evening speaking with Colonel Fitzwilliam, making Lady Catherine angry and separating them only to then criticize Elizabeth piano skills. Darcy then approaches to intimate Elizabeth, according to her, but he tries to avoid speaking to her since he knows she will embarrass him. Darcy is right as she then embarrasses him saying that his presence at the first dance was not tolerated by many people since he did not dance with anybody and lacked speaking skills. Then Mr. Darcy makes constant visits to Charlottes house to see Elizabeth, although he avoids to speak or make “society”. During her time at Charlottes parsonage, Elizabeth was used to walks, in which usually she meet Darcy, who was used to walking her back to the parsonage and asking weird questions to her. One day she found Fitzwilliam walking and they started to talk about Mr. Darcy, how he enjoyed power and how he had persuaded Mr. Bingley to leave Jane since the marriage would not have been indicated.

Caotic Love Life

The day following the party, Mr. Collins proposes marriage to Elizabeth. In his proposal, Mr. Collins starts stating all the reasons why they should get married, he should set an example in his parish, he will be happy with her, and he has permission from Lady Catherine. Elizabeth refuses to get married to him, and has to deny several times his proposal since he kept insisting that it would be her last chance to find a man because of her age. Ms. Bennet congratulates Mr. Collins, but he tells her that Elizabeth has refused to marry him, and she agrees to convince her daughter to marry him. Ms. Bennet then threatens Elizabeth by saying she would never talk to her again if she does not marry him, unexpectedly to Ms Bennet, Mr. Bennet tell Elizabeth he would not talk to her again is she married him. Mr. Collins then retires his proposal with the excuse that it would have never worked out. Mr. Collins, however, decides to stay until the day he had decided to leave, while the girls go to Meryton to see if Wickham had arrived. When Elizabeth meets with him he tells her he did not go to Mr. Bingley s party since he did not want to see Mr. Darcy. Elizabeth then invites Wickham to dinner and he accepts. During dinner Jane receives a letter, but does not comment it until Wickham leaves and she is alone with Elizabeth. The letter, from Ms. Bingley, is about his brother, Mr. Bingley. She comments that he has left Netherfield and will not be coming back and that he has intentions of being in a relationship with Mr. Darcy s sister. Elizabeth soon tries to convince her sister that Ms Bingley is trying to hurt her feeling since she know that they both have a mutual attraction, Jane, however, does not believe Elizabeth s excuse. The next day they all go to dinner, and during it Charlotte tries to make Mr. Collins fall in love with her and propose her marriage. The morning after that, Mr. Collins asks Charlotte to marry her, but Collins needs to leave and promises to come back later. Ms Bennet is extremely happy, while Elizabeth is shock and sad of the decision Charlotte has made of marrying that fool. However, it’s not long until Ms. Bennet gets angry and stressed. She is still angry at Elizabeth for not marrying Mr. Collins. Elizabeth is still feeling weird with the decision that charlotte made and substitutes her with Jane, who feels terribly sad about Mr. Bingleys departure. After a while, Jane receives another letter from Ms. Bingley, stating that they are never returning to Netherfield and that his brother is falling in love with Miss Darcy. Jane feels a lot of pain because of his departure. Once that Wickham is sure that Mr. Darcy is not coming back, he starts rumors about him and how he broke his promises and his inheritance, which makes Meryton hate Mr. Darcy even more.

Embarrasment in th Bennet Family

During aunt Phillips party, Elizabeth sits next to Wickham, who she considers is handsome and charming, the opposite of Mr. Darcy. During dinner Elizabeth asks Wickham about his relationship with Mr. Darcy, and he confesses they used to be friends when little. According to Wickham, he was the favorite of Darcy s father when growing up together and that he had promised him a parish in their estate for him to become a minister, but when the father died, Mr. Darcy did not respect any of the father’s promises and disregarded them. The then starts talking about Mr. Darcy and his whole family, his sister and aunt, Lady Catherine, and portrays them as rich, spoiled and selfish people. After this, Wickham tells Elizabeth that he does not want to ruin Darcy s reputation in honor of his dead father, who he so much admired. After that night, Mr. Bingley travels to Longbourn to announce the ball he had promised. The Bennet girls get exited as they see another chance to meet men. Elizabeth then promises the first two dances to Mr. Collins, and suddenly hints that he feels attracted to her and will ask her hand in marriage, which she considers repulsive. In the dance Wickham does not show up, which disappoints Elizabeth. When Mr. Darcy sees Elizabeth alone, he asks her out to dance, which she accepts, although she does not want to. While dancing, Elizabeth brings up Wickham to see Darcy s reaction but escapes from entering into a discussion about him. Right when they finish dancing Jane arrives to tell Elizabeth that Wickham was lying and that according to Mr. Bingley, Wickham is not a good person. After speaking with Jane, Elizabeth feels embarrassed by Mr. Collins when he approaches Mr. Darcy to speak with him since he had heard that Mr. Darcy was Lady Catherine s nephew. She then feels more embarrassed when she sees her mother bragging about Jane s success in the table, right in front of Mr. Darcy. The embarrassment then continues when her sister starts to play the piano and sing for everyone and does not stop until her father insists that she must stop, her lack of talent was annoying everyone. But after all the amusement the embarrassment still continuous, being the Bennet s the last family to leave the party, inviting Mr. Bingley to dinner before leaving.

Mr. Collins is in Town

During Jane s and Elizabeth s week in Mr. Bingley s home, Mr. Darcy starts to feel more attracted to Elizabeth, although he avoids contact with her and speaks to her only once. When they arrive home, two days before what Ms. Bennet expected, Mr. Bennet announces that a person he has never met, Mr. Collins, will arrive that night and stay for a while. Suddenly all the girls star to ask questions and Mr. Bennet is forced to read the letter he has received. In the letter, and during his stay, Mr. Collins shows a lot of pride, “as a clergyman, and his right as a rector, made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility” (chapter 15), and admiration to his acquaintance, Lady Catherine. His awkward comments become a topic of discussion in the table, and afterwards, Mr. Collins invades Mr. Bennet s library, which then in revenge, Mr. Bennet decides to send him with his daughters to Meryton to see the soldiers. In Meryton, Elizabeth encounters Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy and Wickham together, and notices that they knew each other. After that they meet their aunt, who is making a party for the soldiers the following night and invites all the sisters to assist. Also it is revealed that Mr. Collins has finally decided who to marry, Jane, but Ms. Bennet tells him she is soon to be engaged, but that Elizabeth is free.

Vocabulary:

Thither: To or toward that place; in that direction

Located or being on the more distant side; farther

The definition of pride... 200 years ago

The definition of pride today is very different from that of pride and prejudice. It seems that in the book pride is what we call ego. Quotes such as “Her manners were pronounced to be very bad indeed, a mixture of pride and impertinence” in chapter eight and behavior as those Mr. Darcy presents are the perfect example of a great ego. For example, at the beginning of the book Mr. Darcy declines to dance with any of the girls at the dance organized for Mr. Bingley since he believes none of the women there were a match to him. Being Argentinean, I can identify ego when I see it, and in this book, when they refer to pride they are talking about the ego. Definition of pride 200 years ago: EGO

Jazz in Rayuela (Hopscotch)

Music has played an important roll in the development of literature, styles and ideas. After reading Coming through Slaughter and the Great Gatsby, music, especially jazz, has played a much more important role in the literature we read. While reading Rayuela, or Hopscotch, I noticed that almost a whole chapter is dedicated to jazz, and its significance could be very important to help us understand the book. Although it is not incorporated in its form, like Coming through Slaughter, jazz is characterized in this chapter as a way of living, a style, “hablándose con la Maga entre el humo y el jazz" or “el tema era lo bastante vulgar para permitirse libertades que Ronald no le hubiera consentido…”. Also, the way jazz is formed can describe us the Club de la Serpiente, Oliveira s and la Maga s relationship aswell as the form, or structure, of the book and the main characters personality. “Will he find la Maga” Cortazar starts his novel, and continues it with a combination of different, random, improvised, memories he collects while he walks through the streets of Paris looking for her. Is Paris, besides everything he describes it, a song, a melody?

Are Pride and Vanity the Same

In the fifth chapter the Bennet s go meet their rich friends the Longboum, who start discussing about the party and the chances the girls had with Mr. Bingley, but quickly changes the subject to Mr. Darcy and his pride. The girls start discussing about pride and vanity for the first time in the book. During the discussion, the Longboum s defend the pride of Mr. Darcy, maybe because they identify with him, by stating that pride is a “very common failing” and that “human nature is particularly prone to it”, and that he has an excuse to be that way, due to all his accomplishments such as family and money. We can see that most of the unlikable characters, if not all, have an excess of pride, not so much vanity, which in the future, I deduce, will turn against them.
In my opinion there is a difference between pride and vanity, I do not think pride is a bad, but he opposite. Pride is a way to show what you have accomplished in life, while vanity is a way to show your opinion of beauty.

Pride and Prejudice similarities to Gatsby

In the first part of pride and prejudice the Bennet s are introduced. The book begins with Mrs. Bennet informing that a new rich man has arrived to town and that it is imperative that his husband must meet him in order for the girls to have a chance of marrying him. As the book continues, the desire of the girls, and the rest of the town, to meet Mr. Bingley, the new neighbor, grows, forcing the town hall to make a party to welcome him. During the party Mr. Bingley arrives with some friends and family from London, among them is Bingleys sister and Mr. Darcy, a young, rich, and handsome man but with lack of respect and manners. In chapter four, we see how the Bennet sisters hate for Mr. Darcy grows and his relationship with Mr. Bingley.
The Great Gatsby and pride and prejudice
In chapter four, the relationship between Darcy and Bingley is described. It is described as a “very steady relationship”, and, it is also said that Darcy s judgment is of the “highest opinion.” In comparison with The Great Gatsby, we notice that this relationship is similar to the one of Gatsby and Nick, since their relation is steady and the former s judgment is of great importance in the book. It also caught my attention that a friend mentioned Bingley that house, just as a friend mentioned the house in East Egg to Nick. Finally, I noticed Mr. Darcy s relation with Gatsby. Both characters are smart, rich, young, and lack courtesy, for example: Darcy’s rudeness and Gatsby s hospitality.

other blog

going off tangen
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The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses a lot of symbolism in The Great Gatsby in order to express his themes.

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past", can be interpretated as the whole meaning of the novel and as peoples unconcious need of the past. While we fight against the world and where it is taking us, its imposible to avoid the past and our memories. The message it provides is to look foward, contrary to what Gatsby does, which is to live in the past with fake memories, reason why he dies at the end.

Coming Through Slaugther

"While Webb is talking to Crawley, this is what Bolden sees:
The woman is cutting carrots. Each carrot is slit into 6 or 7 pieces. The knife slides through and hits the wood table they will eat off later. He is watching the coincidence of her fingers and the carrots. It began with the colour of the fingers and then the slight veins on the carrot magnified themselves to his eyes... As with all skills he watches for it to fail. If she thinks what she was doing she will loose control" (31)
From this quote we can infer that Bolden does not see the world as other people do. The last part of the paragrah, "If she thinks what she was doing she will loose control", describes, in my opinion, the whay Bolden and the other characters live. They do not realize the undignified whay they live, for example, making a list of prostitutes, or the neighborhood they live in.