In Stephen King’s collection of stories Full Dark, No Stars, there is a short story that perfectly characterizes him as a novelist who can create not only suspense, but horror that causes the reader to question his sanity. In A Good Marriage, Darcy has been married to Bob for 27 years. It is after this short introduction that King begins the suspense when Bob goes away on business trip and Darcy not only finds Fifty-Shades-type-of-magazine in her husband’s pristine garage, but she finds the ID of a murdered woman who is linked to other serial killings. Although King does not outwardly say that Bob was the murderer, he slowly reveals more information not only about Bob, but Darcy. When Darcy is unable to hide her anxiety from her husband, Bob nonchalantly admits that he it was his alter ego who was responsible for all those murderers. It is because of how nonchalantly this information is revealed and how well Darcy takes this that makes this horrifying; these circumstances would result in much more dramatic responses. As if this isn't horrifying enough, Darcy herself becomes a murderer by the end of the story by killing her husband after pushing him down the stair and suffocating him. She is able to make this look like a drunken accident, and gets away with murder. Following this, the detective lets Darcy know that he knows what actually happened, and that he always suspected Bob as the culprit of the serial killings. What’s even more horrifying is that he tells Darcy that she was right for killing Bob. Stephen King creates this horrifying aspect because of these unreasonable responses to these graphic and violent actions. He also uses psychological thrill as a way to entice the reader. 

Blog #11

Whispers of Immortality is another poem by T.S. Eliot that exemplifies how Eliot aims to create a theme of the purpose of spirituality in his works. This poem, however, differs from his others because rather than talking about the mortality of human beings and the importance of a pure spirit, it focuses on the immortality of different characters and how they each reached death. The structure of the poem, though, is similar to his others in the sense that it is broken into stanzas, but they can be grouped together because of similar ideas and topics. There are three different characters present with the first two stanzas dedicated to “Webster.” He describes this character as “possessed by death” and making him appear as a creature from the underworld. Like other T.S. Eliot poems, this is also an allusion to John Webster, a famous poet who probably influenced Eliot though his ideas of death. The second character is Donne, who “found no substitute for sense, to seize and clutch and penetrate; Expert beyond experience.” This is clearly another allusion to John Donne, one of the great metaphysical poets that influenced Eliot because of the idea of not only the spirit’s purpose, but the purpose of being human on a physical level. It is after these two characters are introduced that Eliot then changes the tense from past to present when introducing the third character. He also points out that although these two poets did not actually reach immortality, their poetry did as it lived through time and how their purposes are still meaningful despite the passing of time. The third character introduced, Grishkin, is not only female, but symbolizes the passion and purpose that compels both sexual and emotional desires within the narrator, all of those which  keep him immortal. Her exotic and “subtle effluence of a cat” represent that distant and unreachable state of being immortal. This idea of immortality makes this poem stand out as one that does not fit Eliot’s typical topics. However, after decoding the purpose of each character introduced, this poem does in fact describe how immortality is unattainable, therefore stressing the importance of making a purposeful mortal life in which its lasting memories and effects may become immortal. 

Blog #10

Although I did not use Gerontion in my essay on T.S. Eliot, it is a great example of how Eliot uses modernist conventions to convey his purpose and themes that question the pureness and purpose of the human soul. “Gerontion” is derived from a word meaning “of or relating to old age.” It is also one of Eliot’s works that is part of the collection Poems, but is thought to have been written as a prelude to Eliot’s heavier works, like Waste Land. Gerontion explores the life of an aging man, most likely Eliot foreshadowing himself. The first stanza consists of a lot of imagery that creates a negative tone as the narrator describes his state in life. Lines such as “waiting for rain,” “bitten by flies”, “decayed house,”  and “a dull head among windy spaces” all describe how this old man is feeling; a decaying creature as he watches life continue around him. This is a modern convention used by Eliot as he focuses more on loss rather than gain in life, a characteristic in many of his poems. In addition, much like his other poems, Eliot, as usual, alludes to Christ as a tiger, stressing the importance of renewal of the spirit. Although this creates a feeling of hope in the second stanza, the poem continues to describe a what happens in life as one ages. The loss of senses, particularly his sexuality, creates the question of what does one have left after this loss? How is one to engage in acts of passion at this point in life, and what is the result of this?  Eliot continues, however, to conclude the poem by describing how every old man continues to live and exist, just as the spider “suspends in operations.” Eliot uses his conventional poetic devices to achieve his purpose of discovering the human soul through imagery, allusions, and metaphors. These not only deepen the poem’s meaning, but characterize it as a modern poem in the sense that it fits the reality of post -war society in the world. 

Reaction to T.S. Eliot

After reading some of T.S. Eliot’s poetry, it is clear that Eliot creates a style of writing that is not only relevant to his spirituality, but creates a message to his readers that allows them to judge his opinion on certain topics.  The distance of time also appears to be a motif in his poetry as subjects the idea of modern life and contemporary society into his poetry as they pertain to religion and a spiritual lifestyle. In poems such as Hippopotamus and Mr. Eliot’s Sunday Morning Service, it seems as if Eliot is not only presenting his opinion that there needs to be a stronger spiritual aspect in society during his time, but he is in an argument with himself and one that contemplates his role as a Christian and the role of the Church in his life. He depicts a life that is in cultural ruin, and often uses nature, whether it be the Hippopotamus or the “garden-wall bees”, as a comparison to draw attention to the beauty and simplicity of reality.  

As a modernist poet transitioning from the Victorian era, Eliot was writing in a time during the twentieth century when normal values were being challenged, especially during the war. Society placed more value on culture rather than spirituality and religion, and as Eliot himself became a devout Christian, his poetry aimed to change this value. His poems use basic imagery, yet includes many important allusions (often the Bible) that makes his readers analyze it’s importance and relevance to the poem’e message. In addition, his poems are set up in quatrains, each one representing a new image or idea that transitions into the next.  At first glance, each of Eliot’s poems seem to be foreign and irrelevant, but after breaking down each stanza, image by image, Eliot’s motifs of life and death and a transcendent spirituality are all crucial for characterizing him as a poet. Getting past the barriers of mythical and religious allusions, there is a concrete idea that Eliot is always able to convey. 

"This is Water"

Personally, I’ve been looking forward to graduation for as long as I can remember. I have never felt that high school was my “thing”, and that I would feel much more comfortable on my own at some university. However, now that my last semester of my high school career has begun and I know which school I will be attending next year, it has become bittersweet that I have or will be experiencing my “lasts”; last pep rally, last homecoming, last prom, etc. It has become real how fast the time has gone, and the reality has set in that I will truly be on my own next year, thousands of miles away from home. 

As David Foster Wallace speaks to this graduating class, it seems as if he trying to scare them, or maybe he is just preparing them for the real world. It seems scary as we all are headed for new and unknown experiences, but Wallace makes an important point. He says that “the true freedom of education is that YOU get to decide what has meaning and what doesn’t.” He also mentions how we all revert to our natural default setting, the “unconscious belief that I am the center of the world.” He challenges the graduating class to look outwards rather than inwards, and think of the possibilities of every situation around us. It is easy to get absorbed in the every day hustle-and-bustle of society, but it is ultimately our choice to be aware and turn off this “default setting.” Looking back at the past four years, I can imagine how I unconsciously went through each day, longing for the weekend, longing for summer, and longing for graduation. This last semester will not be one where I am longing for these things, but rather enjoying the time I have left with the people I am surrounded with in my life right now, because soon enough, they won’t be there. I choose to turn off this “default setting” of mine not only for the next four months, but as I continue through my college experience. And with that, as Wallace mentions, I will experience the true freedom of education. 

Blog #8- The Intruder

The Intruder by Jorge Luis Borges is a short story that becomes very barbaric and immoral to the reader. The Nilson brothers of Turdera are unapproachable and notorious men in the community  known as “drovers, horse thieves, teamsters, and once in a while, professional gamblers. Cristian, the older brother, used a woman named Juliana Burgos as his servant, sex slave, and more importantly, the woman that he unadmittedly loved. Of course,  however, his younger brother Eduardo fell in love with her as well. After this is revealed in the beginning paragraphs, Borges begins to reveal odd details and an unfathomable plot follows. Instead of the two brothers killing each other, they decide to share Juliana. After figuring out that the other brother is jealous of the other because they both love her, they decide to sell her to a whorehouse. This seems to fix the problem, until both brothers find each other going back to see her. As if this isn’t an odd enough plot by now, Borges really mixes things up when Cristian and Eduardo buy her back and the kill her one night and leave her body for the vultures to eat. Borges’s purpose seems to change throughout the short story until I looked back after I finished reading. In the beginning, it seems that it will be a story about the jealousy between the two brothers that will have a deadly ending. Then, after they sell Juliana, I thought maybe Borges would make this story about the brotherhood and loyalty of Cristian and Eduardo. After reading, however, this is an untypical plot  because usually the fate of the brothers in a story like this is death. Instead, this odd and uncomfortable story becomes about the relationship between the brothers and the intrusion that Juliana causes.  Rather than getting rid of “the other man”, they get rid of the intrusion- Juliana herself.  Although this very brutal and inhumane, it makes this short story intriguing to read because of its nonrealistic plot. Also, this story arises the question of Borges as an author himself. He clearly is not a feminist, using a communal woman to connect two men physically and emotionally.  Obviously not identifying with the purpose of this story, yet finding it intriguing to read, I am left speechless by the cruelty of the whole situation. The ending sentence, “One more link bound them now-the woman they had cruelly sacrificed and their common need to forget her”, makes me think that Borges wrote this short story to draw attention to the barbaric natural instincts of man. 

Blog #7

After finishing The Secret Agent, I am able to look back and analyze how and when my reading changed. Although this was a challenging book in the beginning, the plot slowly picked up speed and many things began to happen very quickly. The chapter when Chief Inspector Heat has a conversation with Winnie, and Winnie finds out that her own husband played a role in Stevie's death, is in my opinion the best chapter in the book. Not only does Winnie, a character who is thought to be innocent and minor, becomes a cold-blooded murderer of Verloc. This was a major plot twist that I did not expect, and its irony allowed this chapter and the book as a whole to become extremely powerful. Winnie murders a murderer, revealing a major theme throughout the novel. I did not expect Winnie to become such an authoritative and influential character because of her lack of action throughout the early part of the book. From this point on, the action and suspense keeps building. She runs into Ossipon and convinces him to run away with her with the money she received from Verloc. As we find out, he only pretends to agree until she boards the train and he jumps off last minute with her money. In addition, Winnie’s suicide just adds chaos to the whole situation.

This chapter is not only a major plot twist, but it is the most important one in which Conrad reveals themes about the book and his view of society in the early twentieth century. As if plotting to bomb the Greenwich Observatory wasn’t enough of a statement about society, Conrad develops a plot in which there is lack of trust, loyalty, and morality. Although this theme is dispersed throughout this book in small parts, Conrad is able to convey this theme in one climactic chapter. Violence and death become prominent motifs in the book as well, and they become very important when they transform characters like Winnie and Ossipon into corrupt citizens, making these characters dynamic.



It is because of this chapter that I not only was able to connect everything together, but it drastically changed my opinion of the novel. I was not a fan of this particular book in the beginning, but once I understood what Conrad was doing with the plot, I greatly enjoyed finishing the novel. The book was very blasé until this chapter, then it suddenly catapulted into this very meaningful and forceful book. The fact that Conrad has the ability to do this and change a reader’s opinion of the book as a whole a single chapter makes him a very competent author.