Identify three symbols in the readings from this week and discuss what you think those symbols mean in the context of the story or poem in which they are found.
Poems and stories alike rely heavily on the use of symbols and symbolism which enhance the writing. Symbolism has been used by Elliot in his poem, The Hollow Men on several accounts. There is the use of symbols in the title of the poem itself since the word "Hollow" represents something else and has a hidden meaning. The word hollow in this case represents emptiness or lack of certain qualities. The Hollow men wear ragged clothes and left standing in the field for the failure of crossing over River Styx and this leaves very little to be desired of them (Eliot, Rátkay & Ackerley, 2002). They are lacking something (a coin); to give the old man to let them cross over and are left in desolation and utter hollowness.
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The poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock uses the symbol of Hamlet who was a character in the Shakespeare’s play. Prufrock is indecisive and is a tool to be used by other just like Hamlet in the play. Fitzgerald in his story Babylon Revisited uses symbolism too. When the term dissipation is first used in the story, it seemed that it referred to Charlie’s loss of wealth and status after the stock market crash (Fitzgerald, 1996) . This term, however, symbolizes more than just that, it refers to Charlie losing a precious part of his life; his wife, daughter and honor which were more important due to his extravagance.
Based on Hemingway and TS Eliot, what are your impressions of the "Modern Man"?
I get the impression of the modern man being serious and focused based on Hemmingway’s The Fight on the Hilltop. This is because of the author's portrayal of the character Robert Jordan who is seen to be a chill guy who simply wants to get the job done. This creates the impression that the modern man is unperturbed by things which other people would normally seem concerned about just like Jordan who never bothered to look at the body of his best friend when he had died (Hemingway et al., 2012). I also get the impression that modern men do not have feelings. This comes from Elliot’s description of the hollow men as being dry without blood in their veins. This creates a picture of people being cold hearted with no feelings at all.
Share a web-based resource that you located that gave you more information about one of our readings this week, about Modernism, about WWI or about a specific author we covered. It could be a video or a website with text. Explain how the source contributed to your understanding. Is it the kind of source you could use in a literary essay, or is it better for 'preliminary research' and overall understanding, but not appropriate for academic use? Why?
The web-based source that I came across was on the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s life is a mixture of both the joys of fame and success and the misfortunes of this life. This source contributed to my understanding of the works of one of the most famous 20 th -century writers in the United States. His works were mostly based on his life and considered as some sort of autobiography (The Sensible Thing: Biographies, 2017). Fitzgerald, for instance, used the character Charlie in one of his stories to narrate about his life. Just like Charlie in Babylon Revisited lost his wife, he too lost his wife Zelda in real life. Charlie too had a daughter just like Fitzgerald did. This source narrated Fitzgerald’s personal troubles which helped me understand the reasons why he employed this writing style. This web-based source, however, cannot be used in a literary essay. This is because it does not provide the content of Fitzgerald’s works but only the background to the author’s life. In addition to this, the information from the web might not be academically accurate and could be the opinion of a few persons.
References;
Eliot, T., Rátkay, E., & Ackerley, C. (2002). Portrait of a lady; the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock; gerontion; the waste land . Lakewood, Colo.: Micawber Fine Editions.
Fitzgerald, F. (1996). Babylon Revisited and Other Stories . New York: Scribner's.
Hemingway, E., Spanier, S., Trogdon, R., DeFazio, A., Mandel, M., & Sanderson, R. (2012). The letters of Ernest Hemingway . New York: Simon and Schuste.
The Sensible Thing: Biographies . (2017). Pbs.org . Retrieved 25 July 2017, from http://www.pbs.org/kteh/amstorytellers/bios.html
