On Boy Actors in Female Roles

In Lisa Jodine's piece, "On Boy Actors in Female Roles" she explains how female roles were played by young boys in the Shakespearean time. Elizabethan theater found this acceptable and therefore the young boys thought it was common and found nothing immoral about it. Jodine proposed that this caused confusion and homosexuality amongst the young boys. I agree with her assumptions that the boys curiosity leads to homosexuality because they are told to dress like women, act like women and even more intense, to kiss another man. This only makes a young boy confused of what he shall act like. Also as he continues to impersonate a female, he might become fond of it and bound to find it natural. In all, we can conclude that the "inevitable accompaniment” of men becoming females is "stirred" from the Shakespearean time. 

Interview with August Wilson

During the interview with August Wilson, Wilson expounds on many different cultural aspects in life. He first undergoes the changes in generation causing parents to have to raise their children differently from how they were raise. One question that he uphold in his interview is "Are the tools we are given sufficient to compete in a world different from our parents knew?" This was an interesting question to me because the environment children raised in now is more dangerous than before and things are prone to happen to a child. This cause a parent to have to raise their child strictly and have full attention of there whereabouts. Unlike now, parents could tell their kids to go outside and have no worries as to what might happen but things have changed. He answers his own question saying, he thinks the tools are helpful but they have to do different things with the tools. I totally concur with his statement. He also talks about how African American separate themselves from society and rather make a future from getting a job with using their hands rather than paperwork job. He ends his interview saying he would like to see blacks develop their own institutions that responds to their needs rather than others. This is his solution to some of the issues with the African American society and I agree with it. I found this really interesting.

Tragedy of the Common Man

"I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were." This is a quote from writer, Arthur Miller in his piece, "Tragedy of the Common Man." Throughout his text he expound on how a common man is just as likely to experience something fatal to him/her just as a man of power. Both have something to sacrifice but as for a king there is a little bit more to lose. Miller states that the tragedies are archaic and it has been implied that it "fit only for the very highly placed, the kings or the kingly ." Of course he does not agree with the false conclusion of the written tragedies before and that is why he came up with the tragedy of a common man entitled, "Death of a Salesman." So in all, I do agree with Miller's view that tragedies can happen to the common man and the man of power.

 

On the Dangers of Reading Fiction

In his short piece entitled, "On the Dangers of Reading Fiction," Thomas Jefferson depicts his ruthless thoughts about fiction. He describes fiction literature as poison which affects ones mind rejecting all the logos as there would be in nonfiction. He also views fiction as time lost and poor judgment in reading that should be instructively employed in what he calls "wholesome reading". Although, this passage was well written and interesting I do not agree with Jefferson's opinion about fiction. I feel that it is a great form of imagination that helps paints pictures in our heads as well as a needed interest in the life of literature.

On the Differences between Poetry and Prose

In his poem, “  On the Differences between Poetry and Prose”, T.E. Hulme differentiate the distinctive aspects about poetry and prose. To convey a defined meaning of prose, he used Algebra as an example. He explains that Algebra (prose) convey concrete things without any imagery or visualization in the process. He undergoes poetry differently making poetry more flexible and free to use style. With poetry, it delivers a physical image and decorates the poem with metamorphic language. In contrast, prose is straightforward and just ordinary words without the artistic form. For example, "He inquisitively searched for the answer" can be example of poetry. Instead of saying, "he discovered the answer" which is prose, I used it in a more poetic way. 

In his piece entitled, "Figuring Out Metaphors," John S. Searle, exploits how metaphors can sometimes be difficult to comprehend.Instead of saying exactly what one mean, authors and poets use metamorphic statements that have people wondering exactly what they are trying to say. Although metaphors might be hard for some and even myself to understand, I feel that it is a essential element that enhance the meaning of poetry. Think about it, if we just say what exactly what we mean, there wouldn't be any figurative language or imagery for one to grasp on and think about. "She is a beautiful flower blooming in the spring." Now doesn't this gives you an insight of imagery while it miraculously embellish poetry.

On the Words to Poetry

Dylan Thomas's "On the Words to Poetry", is a very interesting piece. He discusses his relationship with words and what they really mean to him. He explains how he had fallen in love with words just when he was a little boy listening to nursery rhymes. Though he didn't understand exactly what was being said in the nursery rhymes, Thomas express his enjoyment with the sound of the words. Through the text he highly praised words describing them to be beautiful, precious and valuable to his life and this is clarifies why he begin to write poetry. In all, Dylan's true feelings about words were phenomenal and interesting to hear about a person who truly adores words.