The Blue Cross by G.K. Chesterton

“The Blue Cross” by G.K. Chesterton is an excellently written detective story reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, but with a greater focus on the unexpected. I enjoyed reading this story much more than I have any of the other short stories we have read thus far because while many of the stories from “Dubliners” and Kafka are concerned with feelings, moods, and themes presented through picturesque and often ambiguous language, Chesterton infuses his stories with far more logic. This is not to say that he leaves descriptions and themes out of the picture, but more that the stories are far more complete, clever, and satisfying.  A major theme in “The Blue Cross” is unexpected occurrences. From its very beginning, the main character, a detective, is not the common traveler that  any passerby would expect. Moreover, he is a French detective in England, which is slightly surprising. Throughout the story, the detective watches for anything unusual as he wanders about the city tracking Flambeau. It seems ridiculous that the detective should be able to connect switched salt and sugar, a star shaped hole in window, overturned apples, and switched merchandise signs With his target, but that is just another one of the unexpected aspects of the story. Even the criminal in the story is himself a man of incredible intellect. In the greatest unexpected occurrence of the whole story, the innocent looking priest seen at the beginning turns out to be clever enough to outwit the criminal and surprise the detective. The rationalizations used by the French detective, Valentin, for his seemingly foolish tracing of strange occurrences and the theological arguments between the two “priests” (one is Flambeau) show some of the added argumentation thrown into the story. Chesterton also adds a discussion of the type of intelligence possessed by the Valentin and sharply comments that he “was not ‘a thinking machine’; …a machine only is a machine because it cannot think.” This quote shows a little bit of the witty writing style of Chesterton.

"Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold

“Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold starts by painting a peaceful picture of the Dover strait between France and England with its “cliffs” and “moon-blanched land.” The scene, however, is not what it seems. The constant roar of the turbid water on the beach, churning up pebbles, is meant to convey sadness and that because of human misery. The reference to Sophocles, although historical, also alludes the misery of his plays. It indicates that the ebb and flow of the ocean brought Sophocles the inspiration for writing about human misery just as much as the ebb and flow of the English channel’s water does for the narrator. While the imagery remains similar, the metaphorical meanings seem to switch at the beginning of the third stanza. He laments the loss of faith, presumably in God, that he observes all around him. The faith which used to be so complete around the world (at least the Western world) is receding like the tide over the beaches. Despite the narrator’s apparent displeasure at the loss of faith, he does not cling to God but to his love in the final stanza. His understanding of the value in faith recedes with the rest of the world. Everything is falling apart around him (33-37). He indicates that the world which seems to be so wonderful, ebbs and flow like the sea, and has no solace for the times of suffering. The Bible instructs believers to cling to God because the world will fail them as Arnold realizes, but the narrator here rejects his faith in favor of something more tangible, his lover. Diction associated with storms can be traced throughout the poem, which reflects the turmoil within the speaker caused by the empty hope in the world and in his faith. The tone is forlorn with the speaker lamenting the state of the universe.

Discussion of Hunt Hawkins "Heart of Darkness and Racism"

Hunt Hawkins disagrees with Achebe’s concern over the racist qualities of “Heart of Darkness” and instead praises its outcry against human atrocity. His argument could be much stronger if he chose, so I do not understand why there is so much unclear waffling between ideas. Aside from that, I find it fairly convincing that Conrad’s supposed racism was mostly just the prevailing opinion of the day and most of what he was concerned with was destruction of the morality of whites when exposed to such primitive surroundings. Conrad repeatedly discusses the sham of the whites’ intention to better the natives and, as Hunt points out, there are several examples of abuse that cause Marlow concern such as the natives under the dark tree near the beginning and the native shot dead in the middle of the road. He also alludes to the false sense of morality that whites have with the description of how women live in a crystal world that is unrealistic and with his description of how Kurtz’s morality fell apart with the absence of any sort of civilization or police. I disagree with Hawkins when he claims that the evil is brought to the natives by Kurtz. I will acknowledge, however, that the natives have an integrity of mind, body, and soul that Conrad admires. The primary point for Conrad is not that Kurtz corrupted the natives, but that the practice of imperialism is flawed in several ways. Conrad laughs slightly at the hubris of whites who assume that they are gods in front of the Africans, when in truth they are “empty.” I would argue that the Africans are equally empty, but they have no façade of civilization to fill, so they can live their lives with primitive energy. This type of primitive lifestyle, according to Hawkins, has some sort of appeal, which causes Imperialism to be even more dangerous as it can ruin Western advanced civilization as it did Kurtz. The reason the primeval and Satanic way of live has an appeal is because all of mankind inherently hates the influence of God unless the Spirit chooses to show them that its paths lead to death. Thus, by leaving all structure and possibility for accountability, it is a false paradise of fickle freedom.

"The Lamb" and "The Tiger" by William Blake

“The Lamb” is a poem full of peace and calm and innocence whereas “The Tiger” is filled with intensity, darkness, mystery, and fear. Despite their vast difference in tone, both poems are centered around the maker of these two creatures. They both puzzle over God’s creation. The first poem is phrased like a children’s poem and sounds like a father speaking to his child and asking rhetorical questions which he expects to answer later. In addition to the connotation of a lamb as an innocent creature, the diction throughout the poem such as “stream… delight… softest… bright… tender… rejoice” all reflect innocence. The second stanza talks about how God sent his Son, the Lamb of God, to earth as a child. Even though the connections are largely Scriptural, the attitude with which they are presented here suggests the way in which a caring parent makes ideas as readily connectable as possible for children. The second poem is extremely different. While the first poem solves the question of “who made thee?” the second leaves it primarily a mystery, or at least leaves a questioning in the air. The imagery of a tiger “burning bright…in…the night” is the sort of picture that is actually Hell-like. Blake expresses awe that anyone would dare to construct the “fearful symmetry” of the tiger. The description in the fourth stanza of the tiger being made in a blacksmith’s foundry gives him all the more warlike and fierce aspect. Blake also refers to how the sinews of the tiger’s heart are twisted, implying its perversely wicked predatory nature. Interestingly, the symmetric, anatomical, and mathematical characterization of the tiger makes him seem more terrible. It is as if the structure to the evil makes it far more severe. The second poem emphasizes the terror found in God’s creation which reflects his power and moral perfection, while the first emphasizes his loving kindness. Since God is both just, powerful, and loving, I do not have to choose one of these poems to agree with in this case. Both showcase different attributes of God that are equally important to understand.

Heart of Darkness vs. Apocalypse Now

Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, was portrayed fairly well in the film Apocalypse Now, despite the many factual differences. By setting the movie in the Vietnam War, an era all too familiar when the movie was released and still relevant today, instead of the Belgian Congo, the movie seems more relevant than Conrad’s book. Pages could be filled with the similarities between the works. The misty atmosphere of jungle with dangerous natives on all sides, the dingy aquatic craft, the gruesome displays at Kurtz’s temple, the attack of harmless arrows, the spear that kills the helmsman, the strangely out of place Western worshiper of Kurtz, etc. One of the interesting traits of Kurtz is his existence as not much more than a voice. While he does not seem as sickly in the movie as he is described in the book, he nevertheless acts calmly. In the book, his voice holds incredible sway. In the movie, the effect of his voice is more implied, but for a while, his face is not shown, so he does seem to be primarily a voice. The most poignant similarity between the two is the statement of “the horror, the horror” as Kurtz’s last words. Both contain the themes of desire for adventure and the collapse of “noble” characters. Conrad’s Kurtz, however, seems to fall into darkness primarily for the purpose of material gains. As such he retains a selfish desire to make it home and be rich and famous. Coppola’s version seems to indicate Kurtz’s withdrawal into a kind of contented hopelessness. He wants his son to know what happened to him and how he overcame the deceitful suffering that he found all around.  Both works’ philosophies involve the rejection of morality in favor of instinctual intellect, but in the movie, Kurtz indicates that there is still a compartmentalized morality left. He values truth to self and others more than his wicked deeds. In the movie, the observer, Captain Willard, manages to avoid falling into the “trap” that Kurtz fell into of becoming the pagan idol of others, but there is no such trap in the book.

Explication of "Yet Do I Marvel" by Countee Cullen

“Yet do I Marvel” by Countee Cullen is an interesting poem written before the Civil Rights Movement when Blacks were still extremely outcast. Most of the poem consists of allusions to attributes and puzzles of God. He knows from Scripture that “God is good,” but it puzzles him that so many things appear wrong or out of place with this fact. He starts with a petty trouble, the blindness of moles. Personally, moles live a pretty good lifestyle underground, so they do not really need eyes. Do worms have eyes, but he then moves all the way to the ultimate quandary of the inevitable death and decay of all flesh that is supposed to be in the image of God. Can it get any more severe than that. Cullen makes his final point even stronger by conjuring problems even more severe even though he blends different allusions to do so. He brings out the harrowing torture that Tantalus and Sisyphus from Greek mythology suffer. Tantalus is terrible thirsty and submerged in water that recedes whenever he tries to drink and has fruit above him with which he longs to satisfy his hunger, but the branch always moves beyond his reach. Sisyphus must roll a boulder constantly up a slope without ever reaching the top because the bolder always rolls back down, at which point, he must start over. After all of these examples, his main point is outlined with the understatement that it is a “curious thing” for God to choose him to be a poet and Black since it was hard for Blacks to be successful in such positions. In the context, the allusions give his struggle an epic grandeur and a colossal scale, which it probably does not deserve as hard as his task may be, but it certainly highlights his troubles in a way that may catch the attention of unsympathetic people. Throughout the poem, Cullen underscores the idea that it is not his place to know the answers to these questions because his mind is corrupted and his body and hands as a result are also corrupted. At the beginning, he points out that God could tell why, but the poet does not have the right to demand for God to stoop to that point. The whole poem could possibly be a parallel to real life if God is compared to the white people who mistreat Blacks without stooping to tell them why. Thus, he vents himself in the poem with little hope that anything will be changed even with his flattery.

The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad

Over the course of “The Secret Sharer,” the narrator becomes more and more confident in his abilities as a commander. Near the beginning, the narrator instructs his mates that after the hard work done recently, he would take the first watch of the night alone. After saying this, he feels “painfully” that he, a “stranger” is doing something unusual. He also comments that all of the phrases of the sea are familiar to him, but he feels strange because he is not used to being in command. Because of his newness to command and his disposition to quietude, he feels uncomfortable in his new position. Throughout the course of the book, the narrator interacts with his “other self,” the murderer from the Sephora, who has a remarkable calm and determination in the face of terrible calamity and harsh situations. By the end of the short story, the narrator has acquired the other man’s calm determination. It is as if, the final wordless clasp of hands between the two, caused the narrator to acquire the other’s spirit and being. The narrator’s old self is then washed away when the other man jumps overboard. The result of the transformation is apparent when he declares that he is alone with his ship, and that no one in the world should stand between them. The captain even finds that he has “the perfect communion of a seaman with his first command.” He no longer timidly orders the crew around, but the chief mate from the Sephora has helped him become confident and assertive. The change in the narrator causes him to feel mentally and emotionally torn for most of the time while his “double” is on the ship. Aside from the influence of his “double’s” character, he is forced to make arbitrary commands and take extraordinary precautions. In these ways, his normal adherence to custom and timidity are forcibly strained until he finally releases them.