Wild Duck #3

Consider which characters are at fault for the events that are unfolding and why? Is there a character without blame?  Why or why not? Is there a character who should carry more of the blame?  Do any of the characters take responsibility?

I feel that Gregers is the character at blame because he is the one that was digging up all the evidence of the affair between Gina and Werle. Werle did not understand why Werle's cared so much about the Ekdal family and wanted to discover the true meaning of the families connections.

The one character that no one really blames for the situation is Gina. Gina is never directly blamed for what was going on, the only thing that happened was Hjalmar got very upset but during that entire time he never directly blames her. He never came out and blamed her. This leaves us to believe that she wasn't really blamed for the situation that she was put in.

Werle should have taken more of the blame. No one ever faces him in the story and blames him for all the situations he had created. When Gregers starts to discover everything between the two families he never once discusses it with his father. This is why he was never blamed and in the end he was the one that created all the different situations.

I feel that Hjalmar takes most of the responsibility that his family started to fall apart. But there was nothing he could have done to prevent what had already happened. He feels that he was placed in a home that was funded by a man that was the father of his child and he did not know this so he feels that he was not smart enough to figure this put himself. Gregers would be the only one that was able to unravel the mystery and Hjalmar felt he should have been the one that could have figured it out on his own.   

Wild Duck #2

 Ibsen uses the motif of decay, he uses eyes. Eyes are well know to be one of the things in your body that fails first and tend to get worse as you age. Ibsen uses eyes in his play to show use how similar the characters are to one another. The thing that seems very wired is that Hjalmar is preventing Hedvig to go to school because he is afraid that she will loose her eye sight. Now knowing that Hedvig is Werle's child, it is very coincidental that Hjalmar is doesn't want her eyes to go.

"Werle: I have to spare my eyes, Gregers; they're beginning to fail me" (Ibsen 133).
Werle knows his eyes are failing him and they are beginning to go on him so he wants to settle down and live his life without having to risk loosing all his sight.  
"Werle: You've seen me with your mother's eyes.  (Drop-ping his voice.) But you should remember that those eyes were-clouded at times" (Ibsen 135).

"Hedvig: No, not anymore. Daddy's afraid I'll hurt my eyes" (Ibsen 162).

These quotes effect the way you look at the characters and you are able to better understand what they are going through or what they are seeing through there eyes.

Wild Duck #1

Hjalmar is a character in the book is a man that isn't facing his problems. Hjalmar never really wanted to face how he was able to get through schooling for photography. He only faced the fact of how much in debt his family was when Gregers brought up the fact. This is when Hjalmar first started to face his life and realized things that he was unable to see because he was in such denial. He finally wanted to take his debit seriously and take over all financial affairs. Of course Hjalmar was not the only character that faced a barrier during the play. We see right from the beginning that Gregers is one that wants to know everything and will do everything to find things out about others. Gregers is a character that faces boundaries and tries to do everything to get around them. I personal seem he as an investigator that is trying to get to the bottom of a problem.

Hjalmar and Gregers are two different people that come from different backgrounds, but both are struggling to figure things out in there lives. Both approach a situation differently but seem to get to the bottom of there problems. Because Gregers and Hjalmar were trying to get to the bottom of a mystery between the two families it creates a situation that would end up being a tragedy.

Journal #3 1984

"What are your true feelings toward Big Brother?"
"I hate him,"
"You hate him. Good. Then the time has come for you to take the last step. You must love Big Brother. It is not enough to obey him; you must love him."
He released Winston with a little push toward the guards.
"Room 101," He said. (Orwell 282).

This part of the book O'Brien is forcing Winston to love Big Brother, the leader of this government. This quote from the book at the entire section connects greatly to the setting, language, and to cultural connections.

Setting: The part of the book where all this interrogation is taking place is in the Ministry of Love. Love would not be the best name for this building but it is what it is because it is a place of exact opposite. O'Brien wants Winston to love Big Brother and he will do whatever he needs to, to force Winston to be brain wasted. For the most part Winston has held out and kept to his beliefs and not giving in to O'Brien's tactics. The setting of this part of the story is very interesting. When we think of love, the first things that come to our minds is peace and living life to the fullest. One thing the Ministry of life does is cut off all these things and sticks you inside a building with no windows and tortures you till they make you say things that are in line with the party.

The language in this part of the book is that of an interrogation. For the most part O'Brien is calm and is driving the ideas of the part down Winston's throat till Winston is forced to follow the party rules. The language of the book has change from previous sections of the story. At first the books language is that of a thinker that is describing the situation he is living in and pointing out things that were not working. Then as we get towards the middle of the book it becomes more of a secret game of hid and seek where to party members are getting together to think and act out against the part without getting caught. That part of the book the language changes greatly because they are trying to sneak around and lot of the things they are doing gets Winston thinking against the party, where as before all he was trying to do was to keep to himself and make sure no one knew his real beliefs.

The cultural connections in this part of the book are connected to war time in modern times. Many countries during World War 2 and The Cold War, used interrogation tactics to get information out of there enemies to know more about them and what they were planning. But in 1984 it is the exact opposite, O'Brien is trying to install the ideas of the part into Winston rather then getting information out of him. The book connects a lot to what was going on during WW2, where there where countries that controlled every aspect of its citizens lives but In the book 1984 they took it to the next level and controlled everything that thought and edited there language to force them not to have the ability to talk or act out against there government.

A new motif appears in the last part of the book and more so towards the end of it. That Winston is more willing to take risks to get what he wants. When he rented the apartment he was talking a huge risk as a party member but he was willing to do so to be with another person that shared the same beliefs as him. He wanted to take the next step in his crime and go further then he had ever been.

Journal #2 1984

Motifs-The days following his first iterations with Julia and receiving the note that said "I love you", Winston is tormented by the fact that it was so hard to be with people and that even in his own home he was not able to think about anything or speech out loud to himself.The only time Winston is able to think about things is in bed while the lights are off. As long as he does not make any sound the telescreen will not know what he is doing. "It was not till twenty-three hours, when he was home in bed-in the darkness, where you were safe even from the telescreen so long as you kept silent-that he was able to think continuously" (Orwell 109). So far through the book the motif of darkness or lack of light has come up. In this case the lack of light is helping Winston hid a crime. It is giving him the ability to think about Julia and what he is planning to do.

Setting- The setting of the book continues to break Winston down as a character. He is well aware that he is being watched at all times. From the first third of the book to the second third, Winston still has the scene of being watched and sort of tracked. "In any case they had been standing straight in front of a telescreen when the thing happened" (Orwell 106). This was part of the book when Julia slipped him the note that said 'I love you', he was not able to determine if it was a trap or if it really had a meaning. The use of the setting created many different situations that Winston could have gone through. Throughout the book so far the setting has created many options for Winston. It is hard for him to see a clear answer for his solutions. He always has to be on his toes in order to stay undetected by the thought police. This is why the setting of the book alters the way Winston lives his life.

Language-
"'What time do you leave work?'
 'Eighteen-thirty.'
'Where can we meet?'
'Victory Square, near the monument.'
'It's full of telescreens.'
'It doesn't matter if there's a crowd.'
'Any signal?'
'No. Don't come up to me until you see me among a lot of people. And don't look at me. Just keep somewhere near me.'
'What time'
'Nineteen hours'
'Alright'" (Orwell 113).
This was the first real conversation that Julia and Winston exchanged. It was straight to the point so they would not be detected by the thought police. A lot of the characters conversations have to be simple so not to be thought as of a thought criminal that was talking against the government. Throughout the first two thirds of the book conversations between Winston and others seem all to be the same but in this case it has a real meaning and unlike the others it is a plan. For the first time we see Winston truly interacting with another person within his society. 

Journal #1 1984

Setting: The setting in 1984 contributes a lot to the way people live there lives in the book. Winston is living in Airstripone, which was once know as London (But no one really knows this), in the empire of Oceania. The part of the city he lives in is falling apart all around his. Nothing is clean and everything seems to fall apart and not work. But propaganda makes the citizens feel that life has never been better and the standard of living has improved from one year prior. The setting of the book contributes greatly to our view on how there society runs and how we understand them.

Language: The language in 1984 is always evolving. There are many members of there society that it is there job to publish new versions of there language. They have been working on the 11th editions of what they call newspeak, this edition is trying to limit the number of words people know so they can not have the ability to even come up with words that would produce thoughts. The government is doing this to control there people by limiting the amount they could learn. The main character Winston is against the controlling government and through language he shows us the world he is living in and how messed up it is. Without the different uses of language the reader would not be able to differ who is for or against the government.

Motif's: From the beginning of 1984 motif's appear, the most apparent motif is censorship, this is where the government that controls Winston and his fellow citizens by altering article and everything around them to make the government look good. Winston is in the department that alters everything that goes against the governments thinking at that time. They are altering the past to make it look like they have always been right. By doing this the government has a very firm grasp on there citizens and they have complete control over them and what they think. This leaves no room for anyone to rebel or to speak out against the government because if they did so they would not have any evidence to support there claim.