09.13.2011
The Dark Knight of the Soul
Questions for a second reading
2. Throughout Miller’s essay, he follows a similar format in the way he states his opinion about the connection between reading and writing to his readers. With every subheading, he tells a story of the influence of reading and writing on the protagonist of each story. Every subheading begins with the introduction of the protagonists through the final outcome of their actions. For example, the first story of the two boys, Harris and Klebold begins with the revelation of what they have done—murdering fifteen people with weapons they created on their own. This knowledge to create such weapons and to follow through with such an act is all blamed upon technology
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I believe what Miller is trying to say is that the readers and the writers are supposed to identify and assess on our own about what should and should not influence us and we should “balance” the information we take in and the ones we leave out. “[T]he connections that count” are the reasonable ideas that we can apply to the real world.
If we were to act upon idealism like the protagonists in Miller's stories do, and what Miller suggests becomes a goal for the subject in high schools and colleges, learning would no longer be about sitting and listening to lectures in a classroom, acquiring knowledge from a textbook, or even discussing among the class. Instead, a new way of learning in which the participants in the class would be required to explore the topic or subject at hand. It almost seemed as if Miller suggests that the students experience first-hand on what they've been taught. This might be the only way to make the connections that we need to from reality and idealism and to understand and learn from it like in Miller's stories that he refers to. When considering the literal meaning of " arms out, balancing", a person would sometimes fall and lean towards one side and then to the other until he or she can balance in a stationary stature. When looking at the phrase figuratively and relating it to reality and idealism, one would at first be unstable until you can find the balance between the two. This would
Miller writes the story in a very unique way. He gives his readers a chance to explore the words written on his pages, with the hope that the reader is able to draw their own conclusions from his work. His unparalleled approach to the essay forces the reader to use critical thinking in order to make since of the essay. Miller’s feelings about reading, writing and the
At the surface level, even novels accredited with literary merit appear to just be simple stories with interesting plots. It is not until a novel is studied and thoroughly analyzed that deeper meanings can be discovered within the text. In Thomas C. Foster’s instructional, How to Read Literature like a Professor, he teaches average readers how to do just that. After reading his book, any student will be able to understand the allusions, symbols, patterns, or any other literary device embedded within in a story. The Crucible, a play written in the midst of the Cold War by Arthur Miller, contains many of the patterns mentioned by Foster. Some of the patterns described by Foster and utilized by Miller are authorial violence, geographical aspects, and political climate.
The Millers and Reeve’s tale are a lot like a typical sports rivalry. A real life example of the strife between the two men, is the Prep vs. La Salle tug-of-war. The schools are almost identical in beliefs and the way they are run, but the tension between the hawks and the explorers is beyond any normal rivalry. Just like how the resentment between the Miller and the Reeve is not just some normal disagreement. Although the Miller and the Reeve have contrasting, distinct looks about them, they are not much different. They are both working class men on the same pilgrimage with the same view of each other.
For my report, I chose to summarize how Brian Helgeland’s movie “A Knight’s Tale” (2001) draws its medieval themes and story from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales: The Knight’s Tale”. Besides the nearly identical titles of these works and the moderately similar storyline, it can be further proven that “A Knight’s Tale” is an adaption of “The Knight’s Tale” because Geoffrey Chaucer appears as a character himself—and a vital one at that—in the movie. Furthermore, just to make certain that there is no mistake among the viewers about who they are dealing with, Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany) even refers to himself as a writer in the movie and points out his very first own work “The Book of the Duchess” in disbelief when some peasants don’t
Once Miller left France for Greece, his journey did not consist of a plan of action nor is there a mindset of a structured liminal pilgrim. His trip to Greece started out as nothing more than a mere vacation; a place to relax and clear his mind for a new story. This mindset however, quickly changed as he arrived in Athens to meet his friend Durrell. When they met, Miller learned how “enthusiastic, curious-minded [and] passionate” Greek people are. He also said that passion is
By Micheal Patrick MacDonald. (Ballentine Books under The Random House Publishing Corporation, 1999, 266pp. $14.00)
The world is so full of stupendous works of literature, which are subjected to a plethora of different personal interpretations. It is inconceivable to imagine that each novel has only one prominent underlying message or theme. Arthur Miller, the American dramatist and playwright, out of The University of Michigan, was able to transform one of the most notable accounts of mass hysteria and loss of rational thought, and mold it into an elaborate and complex drama. Miller’s, The Crucible tells the story of the Salem witch trials that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in the late seventeenth century. Literary lenses are used to assist readers in admiring and evaluating literary works, in an overabundance of ways. When analyzing The Crucible through the historical, psychological, and archetypal lenses, the reader can see the prominent niche that each lens plays within the story, significantly impacting the reader’s point of view on not only the story itself, but as well as the broader connection to society as a whole.
Everybody has a moral code to live by, it is the morals that is allowing us to keep living and survive, but without it, what's the point in living. Miller uses the women that were jailed to show how their
or even the “Death of a Salesman,” Arthur Miller’s essay tries to bring the connection
According to Miller, a common man is best suited for tragedy as "the common man knows fear best." Miller investigates the ways in which the common person is restricted from gaining their rightful position in society due to influential forces within society that stand against him or her. It presents the audience with an understanding of the struggles and emotions of characters like Willy Loman, who is limited in numerous ways in gaining his position by the forces of
Also, Miller's description of Joe being a "man among men", adds an almost heroic illusion to him. Suggesting that Keller, is one to be looked up to, one to be admired and one who has worked hard to earn his respectability as a business man. This could be seen as one of the typical aspects of a tragic
Be that as it may, as I continued reading the accompanying segments, I understood that what the writer tries to do is to impact his worry about how individuals see perusing and writing in our days. Miller trying to transmit to the reader that reading and writing have capable impacts in individuals and their creative energy, however Miller trusts the force of perusing and composing is not being used as much in the advanced world. Through the illustrations he introduces in the "Dark Night of the Soul" he tries to demonstrate alternate points of view of perusing and composing so that the reader understands that both are truly intense substances which can have a major impact in somebody's life. In the sovereign of Darkness we are acquainted with a story, concentrated on two scholars, where each and every demonstration depicted is by one means or another identified with the universe of perusing and composing. In the accompanying segment, following the world, we become more acquainted with McCandless’s story, a case of the silliness of the individuals who trust more in the force of books than in the force of the normal
How does Miller convey Linda’s complicity in the tragedy and in the patterns of self-delusion?
After reading Miller's essay, I couldn't help but think that it had been written to get a very strong reaction from its readers. There was an atmosphere of dreadfulness and curiosity as to how could one do such things? Miller has used metaphors and visual imagery in this essay to evoke feelings of anger by his readers. His critical writing style has cut through various pieces of ancient literature just to prove that every writing had a purpose. This essay, overall, talks about whether reading and writing can stop violence in this world.
Joesph Conrad portrays the concept of dealing with one’s devil in the face of righteousness versus nefariousness exquisitely in Heart of Darkness through numerous significant advances in character development of Kurtz and incorporation of multiple conceptual notions through the climatic struggle of Marlow against Kurtz as the latter unsuccessfully attempts to rejoin his followers. In particular, after the ship finally retrieves Kurtz from the natives of the jungle, Marlow’s unease late at night leads him to check on Kurtz and find him missing from the ship and soon finds the dying man crawling towards a fire created by a native not so far away. As Marlow attempts to persuade him to come back aboard the ship, it is evident that at this point,