"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again."

I chose to give my interpretation of Dannie Abse’s poem “Last Words”. I struggled for a while trying to find the right poem to commentate on, they all refused to speak to me. This poem stood out because of the last stanza, and particularly the last two lines. I think the overall theme of the poem is finding an authenticity in our last moments on earth as opposed to exaggerating them. Throughout the poem, Abse refers to various times when death is dramatized, like in performances of Shakespeare’s plays, or in the last words of great historical figures, and he seems to look down upon these “pithy pretenses” or “quotable fictions”. The overall tone of the poem seems to be a sad frustration with the way death has been portrayed in some as “life-enhancing”, “beautiful” or “euphoric”. It’s like he’s calling the bluffs of all those, past and present, who insist that death is a time of hypersensitivity to where you are, who’s around you, and what you’re life turned out to be.

When someone says “last words”, we automatically think of someone, usually someone old, lying in their death bed. Just as their last breath of air is taken in, they utter a few words barely above a whisper that are profoundly meaningful to all who hear them. In that way, “last words” are a conventional symbol for death, and a dramatic one at that. Because Abse doesn’t believe that death really works that way, “last words” in this poem are meant to symbolize authenticity and truth. The last stanza of the poem reads, “And how would I wish to go?…but finger-tapping still our private morse,…’love you,’ before the last flowers and flies descend.” To me, Abse is saying that when the end is finally nearing, it’s more important to be with the ones you love, and tell them how much they mean to you, than to put on a big show of death. Do you want your last words, the ones that define you even after you are gone, to be fake and overly embellished statements that don’t truly represent who you are and what mattered most to you while you were on earth? I’m with Abse…that’s not what I want.

In reading Song of Solomon thus far, I have found myself intrigued and scared the most by Guitar. His secretive ways immediately made me think he was doing something that wasn’t considered appropriate, but I thought it would be something more noble than killing people. When he admits to Milkman that he’s a member of the Seven Days, it reminded me of a terrorist group. Do they not think that they’re being hypocritical by killing innocent white people? Someone needs to teach them that old expression, don’t fight fire with fire. They’re only making the racial divide grow deeper. I was actually pleasantly surprised by Milkman’s pleading with Guitar to see people as people, not black people or white people. Even though it may be slightly idealistic considering the time period that this novel is set in, I admired Milkman’s level of maturity with this particular issue. I worry for Milkman that one day Guitar’s temper will snap, and he will kill Milkman because he doesn’t agree with the Seven Days’ radical methods. Like Milkman says in warning Guitar of his ruthless murdering habits, “You can off anybody you don’t like. You can off me.”

Although I really enjoyed reading the book that I chose, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, I’m just now realizing that it wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made. I neglected to consider that the recency of the book would effect how many critics have commented on it. I’ve had to learn the hard way that not that many credible critics have acknowledged the novel at all, and even of the few that have, what they have to say has nothing to do with what I’m writing about. This has been frustrating to say the least. It looks like I will have to resort to referencing a fellow blogger’s negative and harsh critique of the novel, but this will have to do.

Does anyone else pity Ophelia? At the beginning of the play, she seems to enjoy the fact that Hamlet pays her a lot of attention, but then, she is forced to obey her father and deny all of Hamlet’s affections for her. Her feelings are confused further when Hamlet, still pretending to be crazy, acts as if he has never loved her at all. If that’s not mixed signals, then I don’t know what is. If not to make matters worse, while being treated poorly by Hamlet for much of the play, Ophelia simply takes it. Sure she is puzzled by almost every word out of Hamlet’s mouth, but he is obviously making a mockery of her, and she says nothing to stop it. Then, in the most horrifying act of all, Hamlet kills her father! No wonder Ophelia was driven to madness and suicide.

If we’re speaking of Ophelia’s death then, it’s easy to blame Hamlet and say that his treatment of her is what drove her decision to drown herself. This very well may be true, but for some reason, I still like Hamlet. Even though almost everything he has done in the play thus far has been vindictive, sneaky, cruel, and downright bizarre, I still admire his tortured character. If a ghost came to me and told me that my uncle had killed my father, and that very uncle had married my mother within a couple months, I would have a serious problem with that.  So who can blame Hamlet for wanting revenge and devising a crafty plot to ensure he has it?

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards has  been sitting on the coffee table in my family room for at least a year now. Its haunting cover has always intrigued me, and I would be lying if I said that I haven’t picked it up a time or two just to read the back cover. I have always intended to read it, but somehow, it always slips my mind when I’m looking for a good summer or Christmas break read. So when I saw that this book was on the list of possible options, I knew it was now or never.

So far, the book is a little slow moving, but still very good. Edwards includes so much detail in her writing that I’m thirty pages in and the plot has yet to progress from what was already described in the synopsis on the back of the book. The slow moving style of writing is fine with me though. I like taking the time to appreciate the little details that Edwards thought about as she was writing the book. You can almost feel the precision in her word choice, and as a result of that precision, a clear picture is easily painted in my head as the story unfolds.

The characters of the book are also very interesting. Edwards gives little snip-its of their past very frequently, which allowed me to really grasp who they are as fictional individuals right from the get-go. I also find it interesting that Edwards often chooses to refer to the main character in the book as “doctor” rather than using his first name, which I’m not even sure has been revealed to us yet.

The plot is strangely eerie, yet very intriguing. I can’t wait to continue reading it.

Last night I was reading Emma before I went to bed. Just as it Mrs. Bates’ loud chatter was busy thanking Mr. Knightley for the apples he sent to Jane, I dozed off. I wasn’t left Emma-less for too long though, soon enough I was in the middle of a very realistic dream in which I was cast as Emma. Aside from the fact that we were all speaking in perfectly eloquent old english, the rest of the details of the dream are hazy to me now. However, I remember feeling like everything Mr. Knightley said frustrated me because he was constantly trying to take my job of having the last word in every discussion or debate. Jane also irritated me in the dream because she was so meek and reserved with her feelings. She wouldn’t reveal anything at all and instead just sat there completely stoic while playing her brand new piano forte; that seemed to make my blood boil. The only character in my dream who I didn’t wake up upset with was Harriet. I can remember feeling very strongly that all I wanted to do was to take her under my wing and make her the best person she could be. It was almost like I wanted to be her big sister- someone she could look up to. So when I woke up from this dream, I think I had more empathy for Emma and could really see where she was coming from, especially in her intentions with Harriet. Whereas before I questioned her motives, I now understand where she is coming from a little bit better. And I’m also sure that someone like Mr. Knightley would frustrate me just as much in real life, as he did in my dream.

I love the relationship between Mr. Knightley and Emma. It’s a healthy friendship that I can see blossoming into something more because he does not take everything Emma says as sacred law (like maybe Harriet does). Although Emma is undoubtedly stubborn, I think she has a soft spot for Mr. Knightley because he is the only one who challenges the things she says and brings her back down to earth. They say the healthiest and happiest relationships are those in which the two partners challenge one another and therefore make each other better people.

I must admit that so far, I would not consider myself a fan of Emma. Her meddling in the lives of others really frustrates me. I can see her intentions for taking Harriet under her wing are good, but I cannot see the outcome of their friendship being a good one. Harriet, though a bit naive, has a kind and friendly spirit and seems to be accepting of everyone, regardless of their social status. It worries me that Emma’s elitist attitude may rub off on Harriet so much so that she will snub some of her oldest friends, like Mr. Martin.

The last act of Twelfth Night seems to untangle all of the love knots that have been twisting throughout the play. Viola and Orsino end up together, as well as Olivia and Sebastian. Well, not to be a Debby-Downer, but if you look past the seemingly Disney perfect ending, you’ll notice that a few characters didn’t exactly get all that they had hoped for. Malvolio, although finally released from the black cell of madness, doesn’t end up with Olivia. Instead he is left embarrassed and hurt. Also, Antonio doesn’t even have the chance to be with Sebastian, the object of his lust the throughout the play, because two men being together was socially unacceptable during the days of Shakespeare. It’s fine to look past these more tragedy like components to the ending of Twelfth Night and take it for what it is on the surface-a perfectly happy ending to one of Shakespeare’s more jolly and enchanting plays.

Out of all the plays I’ve read by Shakespeare, I have to say that I’m enjoying this one the most so far. There’s something intriguing about the comedic tone of the dialogue and the overall silly-ness of the plot. It’s almost as if the characters themselves aren’t even taking it seriously because everything they’re doing is so over the top. I also am understanding this play better than I have his other works, but that may be due to the fact that a modern day romantic comedy was modeled entirely after The Twelfth Night, so I’m referencing that movie plenty.

My favorite character so far is Viola-or Cesario- because I really admire how outgoing she is. I don’t think many women at the time Shakespeare was writing this-or now for that matter-would have had the courage to pretend to be a boy for an extended period of time. Will she be able to keep the act going? I’m not sure yet, but so far, I admire her for even trying.

My least favorite character so far is Olivia because to me, she comes across as a little bit conceited. I know she’s mourning the death of her brother, but some of the things she says are far from modest.

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