Abraham Han's 20th Century Class Blog

In the beginning of The Stranger we the readers are provided startling glimpses of Meursault’s indifferent nature and the startling consequences of his neutrality. Although Meursault’s indifference sometimes allows him to sit back and relax in the moment within a hectic, worry-filled society, as seen through his afternoon spent looking out the window, pleasantly watching the people in the streets below, but on the flip side, his indifference also lets him turn a blind-eye to the evils within the society, characterized by Raymond and the cruel beating his former-lover which Meursault helped instigate. Meursault’s indifference is caused by his near obsession with his comfort in the present time. For example, he takes irrational decisions such as helping Raymond because his present comfort overrides the expense of the heavy repercussions that would be far in the future, and his ind ifference to both the evil and the good in the world allows him to take any decisions he likes. I...

To me, one of the most profound moments of this novel was when Antoinette is hit by the rock thrown by Tia and is losing consciousness on the ground in part 1. What really struck a chord with me was when Antoinette narrates “It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking-glass”. The title of the novel itself The Wide Sargasso Sea serves to indicate the predicament that Antoinette is in socially. As Mr. Mitchell told in class, the Sargasso Sea is the sea that separates Europe from the Caribbean. The title symbolizes how Antoinette is stranded in her struggle of identity, stuck in a vast space between the two worlds. As we observe her childhood in Part 1 of the novel, we as readers see how Antoinette does not completely fit the Creole identity, seen through her dispute with Tia, and the fact that she is the daughter of a land-owner. However, we also see how she doesn’t fit within the aristocratic identity, as seen by the dispute with her mother about her dirty dress, and the way that ...

I have a story to share my friends, and a message I hope you all shall heed. Alas, little Abraham had a fantastic idea for the blog post due today, a beautiful argument presented on solid foundations of evidence to support his reasoning. So he bid his time, writing parts, paragraphs throughout the week, and Bravo! wrote a 7 paragraph beauty, all written out with intro and outro. And here the horror begins: As he presses the orange "PUBLISH" button, the screen shouts "Oh no! It looks like ...." and he laughs, and presses to reload. Surely, all those times he's pressed the save button, it's fine. But when the page reloads, an empty text box stares back at him. He waits for another 30 seconds, and slowly begins to think that perhaps, it isn't just a web lag thing, and that the text won't just magically pop out, because the info in the box is still loading right now, maybe the video drivers are messing up, or haha so much for spending 800 bucks ...

There are many dreamlike qualities in the beginning of The Metamorphosis. The way that Gregor thinks when he wakes up 'Oh I'm a bug. But it would suck if the Chief Clerk dropped by and accuses me of being lazy' and how that later actually happen is a very dreamlike quality. Like, if anyone has ever had a kind of bad dream, and you think 'You know, it'd be much worse if _______ were to happen', and then a kind of gravity-like force pulls you into that situation, that is exactly how the novella begins. However, Kafka clearly distinguishes that "It was no dream." (1). Why would he do that? Taking a step back, and looking at the story itself, as a short story/novella about a human that's turned into a bug, it really feels as though it's inviting the reader to argue with the book, instead of actually trying to read it. To combat this, Kafka uses the absurdity of the situation itself, in that there is an actual human that has turned into an actua...

Now that we have finished The Sun Also Rises, Jake's amusing first impression has now turned to a masterful show of Hemingway's beautiful craft. We, the readers now armed with an understanding of the beautiful depth and the dynamics between the characters, will feel a tug in the heartstrings, rereading the first chapter as I did.  In the very beginning description of Cohn and his boxing title there is the subtle undertone of bitterness, mixed with the condescending voice, leaving an impression of inferiority. All these elements now make perfect sense in the context of the whole novel. The fact that Jake feels insecure, and has a sort of inferiority complex at Cohn, was firmly established in Chapters 3 and 4. We learn about the reasons behind why Jake is unable to have a stable romantic relationship with Brett, which explains the sort of bitterness Jake feels, because Jake believes Cohn to be a sort of non-masculine guy, as he is a Jew, a man that is always dragged along and pu...

The first chapter in The Sun Also Rises gave me the impression that the book would definitely be about Cohn and his life from the point of view of Jake (kind of like The Great Gatsby [haven't read the whole book, but from what I remember, I think the narrator follows the dude around places....]). However, I was pleasantly surprised when in the following chapters the focus shifted from the story about Cohn's life to the narrator. Surprised, I looked back to the 1st chapter that I read, and as I began to reread it, I realized that it was fun little literary trick of sorts. Rereading it, I realized that the way that Jake described Cohn also gave insight into Jake, and the reader can also sink into Jake's perspective of the macho masculine manly dudey dude. The impression that the narrator gave me after my first read past under my conscious radar, but on the second read it was apparent that Jake wanted to present facts about Cohn, but also downplay them because he's a bro....