Existentialism

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. The activity is given by Professor Dilip Barad sir. In this blog, i am going to discuss some important points related to existentialism.

What is existentialism?

according to Oxford Dictionary,

Existentialism is a philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.

Existentialism is a philosophical term, which deals with human's individual freedom and Rights. Existentialism was become a movement in philosophy and literature which focused on mainly individuals choice, freedom and existence. Existentialism was began in late 19th century. But reached its peak in mid 20th century France. According to existentialists the world is totally absurd and all human beings are also living absurd life. And try to find meaning of their existence in this meaningless world.

    existentialists are not believing in god, but for them self is everything. In existentialism every human and his actions, decisions are reason of their suffering or good luck. There is no superpower or a existence of god who is responsible for what is happening with them. To read more about it (Click here)

Some interesting posters and quotes which help to understand existentialism more clearly :-

Here is some beautiful paintings related with existentialism.

Understanding of Videos :-

Video :- 1 

First video is about what is existentialism. Je suis is considered as a existentialist and the movement is highly associated with him. But he was not first existentialist . It is believed that existentialism Started with Kierkegaard. Who is first existentialist. Some of the famous existentialists are Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Heidegger, Shestov, Hesse, Sartre and Beavvoir etc. 

This all existentialists focuses on three main terms 1) Individuality, 2) Passions, 3) Freedom. Those who are not believing in god are considered as a existentialist. For all this existentialist, believing in god is gave a easy way to be out from absurdity of life. And create a hope. 

But. Albert Camus argued against it and said that believing in god is philosophical suicide. Existentialism is mostly popular among young people. Because the subject of existentialism is highly related to the struggling which young people are face in their day to day life. The subject which discuss by existentialism are, 

1) suicide

2) Angst / Anguish

3) Absurdity

4) passion

5) emotions

6) death

7) freedom

8) despair.

Video - 2

This video is about absurd reasoning. Kierkegaard in his essay write that, "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide." He is focusing on suicide. He says that many people died because they think that life is not worth living. And meaning of life is most complex question. Suicide is individual act. And suicide is also considered as a work of art. 

He also give example of movie named "Stay". In movie there is a phrase, 'An elegant suicide is the ultimate work of art'. Similar to Ideas of Kierkegaard. Beginning to think is beginning to be undermind, when we start thinking ,we start feeling absurdity of life. Kierkegaard wrote about the death that, "I can not know unless I pursue, without reckless passion in the sole light of evience, the reasoning of which I am here suggesting the source. This is what I call an absurd reasoning.

Video - 3

(Philosophical Suicide)

Absurd feeling or the absurd are not in the world, as well not in the man. But it is occur together in both. When man stop questioning or thinking about the irrational world then it is considered as a philosophical suicide. Albert Camus said that, by philosophical suicide people escape from the absurd. According to him, no one can able to leave absurd. Means absurd ends with us After the death. Philosophical suicide, means you kill your self as a philosopher. A totally absence of hope, continual rejection, and concious dissatisfaction are called philosophical suicide. Camus gave difference between religion and existentialism. When something Absurd happened religion told there is something exist beyond reason or understanding, Means god or superpower. But for existentialism there is nothing beyond reason, excepting Absurdity. For Kierkegaard hope is solution of absurd, this how he escape from Absurdity. But for Camus hope in god is philosophical suicide because when you emerge hope, at that point you stop thinking about reason, you stop questioning which is almost like suicide.

Video  - 4

In 1916, Dadaism movement raised. Many people believe that, Dadaism is associated with Nihilism. Dadaism is quest for change, and Dadaism declared against war. Dadaism revolt against every valuable thing. Because during the war every value decrease. And Dadaism is reflection of that. Many artists like Hugo Ball, Janco, Jean Arp, Jristan Tzar, discussed about war and found the movement Dadaism. Creation is primary goal of Dadaism. Dadaism is all about being ode. Existentialism questioning that who we are? Why we are existing? Dadaism questioning to the value of art.

Video - 5

(Existentialism a gloomy philosophy)

Existentialism is considered as a gloomy philosophy. Because notions like anxiety, despair, and absurdity. In gloomy philosophy, if you believe in god and in self, it is okay, you are free to judge value of everything. And what choice you made by judging it, that is your responsibility. And Also the outcome of it is result of your choice. You can not blame anyone. Gloomy philosophy told to become one's own self.

Video - 6

Nihilism is totally opposite to existentialism. Every existentialist stand against nihilism. Existentialists described nihilism as a loss of Individuality. for Nietzsche nihilism means the highest values devaluate themselves. Also there is one another philosopher who strongly believe in nihilism named Hermann Hesse but still he not committed suicide and decided to fought against it. He wrote in his novel Der Steppenwolf that, "All suicide have the responsibility of fighting against the temptation of suicide." And his this mentality caused rebellion. To argue with Hermann Hesse, Camus wrote the myth of Sisyphus. And questions that why rebellion is the only way to deal with Absurdity of life.

Video - 7

This video is about introduction of Existentialism. Before we know what is existentialism, it is very important to know, existentialism is what not. Existentialism is not a philosophical system. Existentialism is great philosophical movement. It arose in 19th century in Europe.Saren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche is characterized as a father figure of the movement in 19th century. Along with this, russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky is also considered as a important figure of this movement. In modern era, existentialism become popular in the mid - 20th century, specially after world war two. many famous 20th century's existentialist are popular there like, Franz Kafka, Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, Maurice Merleau - Ponty, Jean Paul Sartre etc. The major question is what element bring all them together, and the answer is, they are sharing similar thoughts, similar subject, and thinking on same object , about the importance of human in world. They all are also share common concern which is the human condition. Which raised some questions that who I am? Why I am here? What does it mean to be human? How should I live my life? Etc. And in a answer of this questions existentialist rejected all encompassing system.and try to answer questions. 

There is answer of all the question is hope , god, religion, and concept of heaven. But by believing in that concept, we loose our sight the human perspective on life. According to existentialist what we need is not wide perspective about human condition but is a human perspective about human condition.

Existentialists see a benifit to facing - up to our morality.jean Paul gave a important idea of existence precedes Essence. He gave this idea in 1945 in a lecture titled "is existentialism a humanism." Which is connected with a idea of Aristotle, he wrote that, The essence of a substance can be seen as its necessary properties or characteristics which are required for the thing to be what it is.for Aristotle the nature of humans was acting in full accordance with reason.

Video - 8

This video is about Existentialism and Nietzsche. Nietzsche believe that we have a  boundaries of certain rules made by society, family, parents. Which sometimes we thought silly and want to change. We all want to live freely but we are not allowed to do it because we are not free. And when we do ever we like, that is existentialism.

Video -9 

The video is about why Eric Dodson like existentialism . And how existentialism and everyday life is related. And how we can apply this theory in our life. There is two sides in existentialism. One side is our deeper ideas, thoughts, which appeals to our mind, and another side is existential way of life. existentialism is much more straightforward than average. Like they openly accept the darker side of life..like how Absurd life is, how we fall away from our deeper destiny, our anxiety , dread and death. Holism is also important part of Existentialism. Existentialism understanding the life in terms of all that life is.existentialism take everyone as they are, they recognise the feeling , fault as it is.

Video - 10

The video is about comparison of essentialism and existentialism. The philosophy is about dialectic, someone put idea and then someone eles response. In ancient time Plato and Aristotle give the idea that everything has essence. Even we have essence in ourselves. And our essence is we are existing before we born. Aristotle and Plato also wrote that, part of what it means to be a good human is to adhere to your essence. Essence give us a purpose in life because we born to do certain things. This belief is known as a essentialism. 

The belief of essentialism still accepted by many people today. But some philosophers challenge the idea. For example German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, embraced Nihilism. The belief in the ultimate meaninglessness of life. But in 19th century, the French Thinker Jean Paul Sartre returned to the question of essence and asked why we born without any purpose? And it is on us to figure out our essence is. This theory become known as a existentialism. This says that existence precedes Essence.

The another important thing is existentialism is not synonym of Atheism. For existentialist absurdity is a technical term, which describes the search for answer in an answerless world. We need meaning but we are abandoned by universe's meaninglessness. And we are not able to do anything excepting cry. And for existentialists that is Absurdity.

 Questions i had asked in classroom :-

1) According to Albert Camus, believing in god is consider as a philosophical suicide, what is the significance of this sentence?

2) Explain the point, An elegant suicide is the ultimate work of art.

3)  faith is a solution of absurdism but it is also consider as a escapism, at one point having faith is positive but at another point faith distract us from the true reason of absurdity. So having hope is appropriate or not?

4) in video three it is said that, excepting the god, there is many other ways of leaping from absurdity, which are that ways?

5) Rather than quality of art, creation is important according to Dadaism, then what is the importance of meaningless art?

6) Dadaism is related with which work of art excepting Literature and Painting?

Video i like the most :-

Video number nine, i like  the most. Because it gave deep messages through the explanation of existentialism. Also in that video, speaker relate existentialism with other various subject also, Like Buddhis, Nihilism, and psychology and human behavior. So according to me video nine is more informative than any other video. One quote from this video touch me so deeply is, "Existentialism is teaching that suffering is not our enemy". Another quote is, "Existentialism accept me as i am". That quote also i like.

Feedback :- 

At one point, i feel theory of existentialism so hard. But flipped learning help a lot to understand easily. All the ten videos gave me basic to important information in very easy language. And what i was not understood from videos, that was i learned by the small movie shorts displayed by sir in classroom. Flipped learning is become so important here to understand the basic idea. Thank you!

Words :- 2103

Theory of Archetypes

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss some important questions related To Theory of Archetypes.

[Q-1] What is archetypal criticism? What does the archetypal critic do?

Word archetypes is Consist two words, Arche means beginning and Typos means Imprint, this both words are taken from Greek language. Read More about it. (Click here)

Archetypal criticism is a theory of analyzing text by focusing on it's themes, story outline, setting/ scenes, Characters, weather, narrative, symbols etc. Basically it is a one kind of technique of criticism. By focusing on this kind of symbols, we find the reason that why we are able to relate our feeling, emotions, and sense to one particular image, or scene. Archetypal story, images, settings, scenes are help readers / audience to understand anxiety, fear, belief, myths and struggle.

[Q-2] What is Frye trying prove by giving an analogy of 'physics of nature' and 'Criticism to literature'?

By giving analogy of Physics of nature ans criticism to literature, Northrop Frye, try to prove that, people can not mention directly what they are studying or doing. But it is hidden behind the curtain of subject. And for this he gave two examples, first of physics of nature. According to him, the students who are studying physics are basically studying nature in it. But they never say that they are studying nature. But say physics. Similarly he gave second example of Criticism to literature, students of literature generally learning how to criticize literature. But for that, they used to say that they are studying literature, instead of saying that they are criticising the literature. 

[Q-3] share your views of criticism as an organized body of knowledge. Mention relation of literature with history and philosophy.

History and philosophy both are rotted in ancient time. For example literary works come out from Myths, and myths are related with history. So we can say that history and philosophy both are the support system of literature. Also there is some kind of criticism which gave idea of text, and by that reader can understand the pattern of text, but they make no sense of historical background of that, and gave no information about how the pattern emerge. Which is problematic. But archetypal criticism explore the idea of history of text which helps to understand the text and it's pattern more clearly. 

[Q-4] Briefly explain inductive method with illustrations of Shakespeare's Hamlet's gravedigger's scene.

Archetypal criticism's Structure consists three parts. Concept of criticism, inductive method, and diductive method. Inductive method is like moving from particular to general. This we find by example of grave Digger's scene in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The setting in that scene is in grave yard, and it is dark night. Which ultimately gave signs of something wrong will going to happen in future or something bad news will reveal soon.and soon we will find about the death of Ophelia. Which proved our archetypal criticism true.

Another thing is when someone died, people become sad or mourn for them. That is a general reaction, but in Hamlet Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are singing a song. Which again against general idea but we can say by archetypal criticism that, same work for long day creat lack of emotions for that work.

Third significance of that scene is we find both the grave diggers, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are talking with each other. And subject of their talk reflect real situation and problems of that time in which the drama was written. So again it moves from particular to general.

[Q-5] Briefly explain diductive method with reference to an analogy to music, painting, rhythm and pattern. Give example of outcome of diductive method.

Diductive method move from general to particular. Here we understand it by two examples, 1) Music and 2) Painting. Some art move in time like music, other are presented in space, just like painting. And in both music and painting, we find similar pattern, pattern is recurrence. Music move in time. As we see if any song is of four minutes, then it is necessary to listen it for four minutes because otherwise the entire story will not get clear. So it takes time. While painting are presented in space. We can able to see any painting in within a second. But its all about space that how huge it is. So this examples give idea that literature move either in a time or in a space.

[Q-6] Refer to the Indian seasonal grid if you can please read small Gujarati or Hindi or English poem from the archetypal approach ad apply Indian seasonal grid in the interpretation.

Here is a Indian calendar of Indian seasonal grid. With the English, gujrati month names. Here, i am going to refer one poem by Robert frost entitled as 'Nothing gold can stay'in context of Indian seasonal grid and archetypal criticism.

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

Here, the poem is indirectly references Autumn season, according to Archetypal criticism, Scheme of autumn is tragedy. Here also we find grief and pessimistic voice in poem. In archetypal criticism, mythical connection is one important part of it.here robert frost took reference of Paradise lost of Milton. And gave a reference of Eden's Garden. By giving metaphor of Eden, frost told about lose if innocence.along with this he references nature to say that nothing can last forever. Which we come to know by last lines Nothing gold can stay. Which reference Perisher world. Lines like Then leaf subsides to leaf, is directly references to Autumn as we know that leafs fall down in autumn, and new leafs are grow in place of it. And according to archetypal criticism autumn is a season of tragedy and grif. Which here in poem, it is true, because the main tone of the poem is ultimately pessimistic and Griffy.

So it is my understanding about archetypal criticism. I hope my blog will be helpful to you. Happy Learning! 

References :-

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148652/nothing-gold-can-stay-5c095cc5ab679

http://albertsliterature.blogspot.com/2012/02/northrop-frye-archetypes-of-literature.html?m=1

http://dharabarayjada.blogspot.com/2018/01/northrp-fryes-archetypal-criticism.html?m=1

Movie Screening :- The Great Gatsby

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to discuss some important questions related this movie. Here is the video of trailer of movie.

About the movie :-

The great Gatsby is a great English Hollywood movie. The film is a historical romantic drama film.which is based on the novel The Great Gatsby by F.Scott. Fitzgerald.written in 1925. The film shooting take place in Australia in September and concluded in December 2011 with a grand budget of $105 million. The film was directed by Baz Luhrmann. Star cast of the film are,  

1) Leonardo DiCaprio as a James Gatsby,

2) Tobey Maguire as a Nick Carraway, 

3) Carey Mulligan as a Daisy Buchanan, 

4) Joel Edgerton as a Tom Buchanan, 

5) Isla Fisher as a Myrtle Wilson, 

6) Jason as a George Wilson, 

7) Elizabeth Debicki as a Jordan Baker.

8) Amitabh Bachchan as a Meyer Wolfsheim.

9) Jack Thompson as a Dr. Walter Prekins

10) Adelaide Clemens as a Catherine

Director : Baz Luhrmann

[1] How did the film capture the Jazz age, The roaring twenties of the America in 1920s?

Film The great Gatsby talk about many problems of American society, Like The American dream, society and class, love and marriage, dissatisfaction, Money and materialism etc. Also the film talk about the Jazz age, and how it is problematic in that time. According to Oxford Dictionary,

Jazz age means, the 1920s in the US characterized as a period of carefree hedonism, wealth, freedom, and youthful exuberance, reflected in the novels of writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The Jazz age started after world war one and ended in a time of great depression, in 1929. However, the music and the culture we still found in American life. Movie makers captured this culture very well. Jay Gatsby's weekend parties are reflection of this Jazz culture. If we see, we find loud music, coloured fountains, wild crowd this all are the symbols of Jazz culture.

Not only in Jay Gatsby's party but also in apartment party of Tom Buchanan, with Myrtle Wilson, is also reflecting Jazz culture. There also we find loud music, dramatic people, Frowny clothing etc.here is the video of party at Gatsby's house. Which reflect the Shadow of Jazz Age. Along with it, there is one another video in which Baz Luhrmann, the director of the film, discussion about Jazz culture and age.

[2] How did the film help in understanding the characters of the novel?

It is very difficult to understand characters from novel, without any basic idea. But when we see the film, the film gave that basic idea to understand the characters more clearly. It is very difficult to analyze characters, without reading entire novel. Similarly the film is limited within two or three hours, and that's why for film makers, it is not possible to portrayal of each character as it is in novel. Also it will might make movie boring. So they made some changes in characters.  But still film help in understanding the characters of the novel.

After watching the film, we get idea of plot of story, nature and behavior of characters, their speaking - walking style and clothing, which is difficult to understand by riding novel. Because English culture is totally different than our culture, and it is very hard to understand something beyond our experience without seeing it. But movie is better to understand that. Also with the end of movie, we get idea about the end of characters too. For example in beginning,we see that Jay Gatsby was very descent man, living wealthy life, giving parties, loving Daisy Buchanan, but unfortunate man. We feel pity for him. But with passing time, we also get idea that he is not a pure man, he is a smuggler or gambler kind of person and at the end of the film when he died, we feel catharsis but also we feel that he deserve this end only. So this how film help into the understanding the characters. Similarly, the film gave idea of Flippers by the character of Daisy, which is may be hard to understand by reading only.

[3] How did the film help in understanding the symbolic significance of "The Valley of Ashes", " The eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg", and the "Green Light"?

We find some symbols in movie. Like the symbol of Valley of Ashes, Green light, eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg, painting in the room of Gatsyby(Bull and Bear), East and west, mention of Gatsby, and manymore. Which all are symbolising something about characters, situation, future, conditions, society, or sometimes the end also. Here is the importance of three major symbol, Valley of Ashes, Green light, eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleberg.

1) Valley of Ashes :-

Valley of Ashes symbolising the dark side of shining New York. Or we can say America. Valley of Ashes placed between East Egg and west Egg. Which both are rich areas.

 All the waste and dirt of that rich areas are depsides in Valley of Ashes. We can say that, Valley of ashes is satirizing wealthy society and people of upper class who themselves living Meritmongering life, eating healthy food, breathing pure air, and keep their place clean. But behind their pleasure, healthy - happy life, there is a Valley of ahes in which people are suffering by poverty, breathing smoke more than air, living within the dirt and Sludge. here in movie, George Wilson is symbolising people who are suffering like this. Along with this Valley of Ashes is also symbolizing dark side of Industrialism. How industrialism help  Economics of country and on other side how it ruined the environment and people's health as well. Here is the video of valley of ashes.

2) Green light :-

Movie, The great Gatsby start with green light stated across the lack. And we find that gastby trying to touch that by his hand. Also we find many other important scenes in which the Green light was mentioned just like talk between Jay Gatsby and Tom at Tom's house. And talk between Jay and Nick at last part of the movie. Significantly The green light is very important. Green light symbolize hope of gatsby for a mission of  marriage with Daisy.and his hope for future. In general also green colour always taken as a positivity and as a symbol that something good will happen if there is green shed around. It's a sign of positivity.

In novel, we see green light and ocean, which also giving idea of America which rising near ocean. Just like most of the megacities are.

3

) The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg :-

The Eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleberg is a Fading painting of eyes painted on an old advertising billboard over the valley of ashes. According to George Wilson, The eyes are the eyes of god, who are judging American society and people and starring the Tyranny of wealthy people towards poor and black people. Here we also find theme of racism.  The eyes of T. J. Eckleberg is a eyes of god and justifying each character.

4) How did the movie capture the theme of Racism and sexism.

Movie, The great Gatsby captured the theme of racism and sexism very intelligently. In movie we find Tom Buchana, as a rasist person. He was strongly believe that black people are inferior than white Americans. And it is very important to supress them as soon as possible. While in a talk with Nick, We come to know about his thoughts. Also by his treatment to his black servant. Tom says to nick that, “Have you read ‘The Rise of the Colored Empires’ by this man Goddard?”, Then added, ”The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.” “Its up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” Tom pointing out him and tont his entire community. Also in Valley of ashes, most of the workers are black people, they are living poor, painful life. Which again contrast with wealthy white people like Tom, Jay, Nick etc.

Theme of sexism is also taken well. This we come to know by the dialogues of Daisy, as she talking with nick about her daughter, "I hope she'll be a fool - that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." By this we get idea of inferiority of women even in American society. Also Women shown as object. For example in movie, Daisy is a object for whom Jay and Tom both are fighting. Along with this, multiple affairs of male characters are also falls under the theme of sexism. As it is shown that women is portrayed as a thing of pleasure.

5) Watch the video on Nick Carraway and discuss him as a narrator. 

Nick is seen as a implied narrator. Who is narrating the entire novel. But he is not just a narrator but character too. Who himself also don't know what will happen next. And with his writing we get idea that what incident taken place. He is not interfere in anyone's life, in any scene, just he is watching. He in very beginning said that, "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that i've been turning over in my mind ever since. Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, he told me, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the same advantages that you've had". This Also make him a boy who always see good in people.

Nick is decent man. Who has a high morals. That we see by the scene when he was invited for Gatsby's party and he try to make people believe that he is invited, also he is the one who wants to make reunion of Jay and Daisy. And happy for their love. At the end also we found that, after the death of Gatsby only Nick is the one who were there standing for him, and waiting for his funeral. No one eles were there. Nick is in love with Jordan, but in movie it was not higlited. Because the main story is of Jay - Daisy's love story.

In the beginning, Nick is in sanatorium, for his addiction of alcohol, insomniac, pits of anger, anxiety and digressions. So as a audience, we feel sympathy for him from beginning. And he is suffering by this all because of his past trauma so doctor told him to write about his past experience and the story begins. So when we analyze him as a narrator, it is doubtable that what he wrote in anxiety, digression, is trust worthy or not. And if it is, than how much. Also one another point is, he write about his own experience with each character, and his own perspective about the characters. Might it is possible that someone eles point of view is quite different than this. But he is in the film honest man, who is capable to see the incident with various perspective, and also he is not judging any one. So it seems more faithful narration.

6) Watch the video on psychoanalytical study of Jay Gatsby and write about his character.

Gatsby has a grand vision since he was a child. But he was poor and belonged from down class family. And for a person who came from down class it is vert difficult to make money with honesty. So in movie Gatsby also turned poor to rich. Throughing parties, living in a huge mention, living luxurious life. But from where he get such money will remain question untill the end. But at the end we came to know that he is working as bootlegger. So his money is not a pure money. And somewhere he is guilty for this. We find two major emotions in him is 1) guilt, for doing this kind of business and 2) shame for belonging lower class family.

We see, that he is constantly talking about his greatness and his achievements with everyone including Nick. According to psychology, people praise themselves when he wants to hide something, here in a reference of Gatsby, might he is ashamed of his family past, that he is from lower class and so to hide that, he is praising himself. Here, one Instagram post of RJ. Goswami, posted on 13 March 2022, sunday, is relatable with this point.

Also Gatsby describe himself as a self made man. He change his name, hide his identity, cut off all the relations with his family,which consider as a reation against his shame. It is very necessary to understand difference between shame and guilt. Guilt is a feeling people feel when they done something wrong, broken some kind of morals, rules. But shame is different, shame is something about self, that something wrong with self. In case of Gatsby, he is shows his lavish life, his wealth, try to impress people and through grand parties which directly tell that he wants to make people believe that he is rich. According to psychology, when you are in under shame than you care so much that what people are going to see, how they react and what they feel for you.

The another major emotion we found in Gatsby is self Grief. Grief of loose of Daisy. When he goes into a war and after the war when he came back he found Daisy married with Tom in his absence. He feel grief that time goes out and he pinning for that time back. He constantly thinking about the time. Here time become center. And gatsby trying to reclaim that era. So in psychology, sometimes people get stuck at some point and they don't able to move ahead, not able to forget the past.and the become obsessed with living in imagination of past. In movie we see that, Green light become a symbol of lost time, which Gatsby trying to grab back. But more he tried to look back in time, more his present become messy. So his condition is like, he is not able to going back in time and he is not able to move forward, but he is stuck at point.and that's why the great tragedy happened with his life.

I hope my blog will be helpful to you. Happy learning! 

Reference:-

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Sexism-In-The-Great-Gatsby-FCU57Z9KY8V

Poem Analysis of W. H. Auden

Hello, I am Himanshi Parmar, student of MK Bhavnagar University. This blog i have written in a response of Thinking Activity, Which is a Part of my academic Work. Which we get after each unit. In this blog, i am going to analyze some poems of W. H. Auden. Before that, let me give some information about W. H. Auden.

About W.H.Auden :- 

Full name of W.H.Auden is Wystan Huge Auden. He was a great British - American poet. Main themes of the Auden's poem is Politics, love, religion, morals etc. Also his poetry generally known for it's unique style, and technique. During his lifetime, Auden published more than four hundred poems, including seven long poems. And two if them was written in a length of a book. Along with poems he also wrote more than four hundred essays and reviews about literature, history, politics, music, religion and many more. His most famous works are,

1) Funeral Blues

2) September 1, 1939

3) The Shield of Achilles

4) The Age of Anxiety

5) For the time being

6) Horae Canonicae

Here is some videos about Auden,

1) Auden's poem seems to be written in our times for 2022. Justify this in context of pendemic and Russia - Ukraine war.

Here, i am going to analyze three poems of Auden, as a pendemic poem.

1) September 1 1939

2) In Memory of W. B. Yeats

3) Epitaph on a Tyrant

1) September 1 1939

Click here to read original poem

The poem is remembering history of September 1, 1939. Setting of the poem is in a bar of New York City. The poem Coveys the poet's emotional response to the outbreak of Worldwar two. Poem talks about German's attack on Poland. Though it is a War poem, we are also able to see it as pendemic poem.

In the first stanza we find the lines like,

Uncertain and afraid 

 As the clever hope expire,

Of a low dishonest decades:

Waves of anger and fear

Circulate over the bright

And darkened lands of the earth,

Obsessing our private lives;

The unmentioned oduour of death.

This we can connect with pendemic, that during pendemic time, we see that situation is also become like this, people are quarantine during the corona time. They wasn't allowed to go out, to meet their friends, family and closeones. And so that they are afraid, they are frustrated, they lost their hopes, and they were looking the decade as a full of chaos and dishonest. Many of the people loose their jobs, their business, poor people were suffering by starvation, and so their starvation came out as a Waves of anger. Along with this, we saw that many of the people were died during the corona time as well as Spanish flu or plague. Which is reflected through the lines, "The unmentionable odour of death". Numerous people were died and no one was there to count or to care. No one was there to cremate people.even government gave false report of death in corona which later proved in high court. Here is the news of that. (Click here)

Here is some videos of people in frustration, and in anger during Covid time.

Then in second stanza we find lines like,

The enlightenment driven away,

The habit - forming pain,

Mismanagement and grief :

We must suffer them all again.

This lines are also connected with Corona time as we see during the corona, mainly we were in quarantine. And so that many of our habits get changed. Which is not so easy thing. And it formed pain, mismanagement and grief. So this reference we find here. Here is one article, which talk about this situation.(Click here)

Here is one video also which again reflect my point. Along with that, some of the paintings which is related with corona time.

Then in next lines,

Exiled Thucydides knew

All that a speech can say

About Democracy,

And what dictators do,

The elderly rubbish they talk

To an apathetic grave;

In this lines we find similarity between poland - German war and Ukraine - Russia war. As here mentioned that what dictators do and leaders talk about democracy is all rubbish thing. Similarly now a day Putin, prime minister of the Russia, talk about democracy and behind the curtain of democracy he is constantly attacking over Ukraine and destroying it. That's why people use to consider him as a Adolf Putin. Means Adolf Hitler ± Vladimir Putin = Adolf Putin

At the end we find a lines like,

And the lie of Authority

Whose buildings grope the sky:

There is no such thing as the State

And no one exists alone;

Hunger allows no choice

To the citizen or the police;

We must love one another or die.

Here we are able to connect this with Russia - Ukraine war, that authority for their own selfishness, sacrifice lifes of so many soldiers as well as public. We find that the authority is not fighting themselves. They are the soldiers who are fighting for the nation. And what authority doing is just giving orders from their building which grope the sky. And that is something problematic. So, this is something which i find from the poem about pendemic and similarity of poem and Russia - Ukraine war.

2) In Memory of W. B. Yeats

Click here to read original poem

Section one :-

In the section one, poet display the situation after the death of W. B. Yeats. He wrote that the day of his death "was a dark cold day". He also wrote that, the things happening as it is. Nothing could change in world. As he wrote that,

Far from his illness

The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,

The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;

By mourning tongues

The death of the poet was kept from his poems.

This lines shows that, nothing could change. But for poet it was his last afternoon as himself. He was died but his poems keep them alive. Not physically, but in the memory of his readers, in the criticism done by critics on his life and poetry.

The words of a dead man

Are modified in the guts of the living.

 He got no appreciation for his life. But A few thousand will think of this day, means few thousands are remember the day of his death as a special day. 

The poem is about a death of particular one poet, but we find that many writers and poets were died due to corona. Though they were died, people still remember them, remember their lives by their works just like W. B. Yeats. People used to talk about them, critics criticises their works as well as their lives. Just one difference is people are not celebrating his death as a public holiday. During Covid - 19, many of the writers were died but very few people were know them. Here is the articles about writers and poets who were died due to corona, click on that to read.

1) Tarannum Riyaz, Urdu poetess.

2) Baktash Abtin, Iranian Writer

3) Kunwar Bechain, Eminent poet

4) Shamsur Rahman, Urdu Poet and Critic

5) Manabendra Bandopadhyay, Eminent writer, translator

6) Sankha Ghosh, Bengali poet 

7) Siddalingaiah, Kannada poet

8) Rahat Indori

In this part poet also mentioned that, even though yeats died, he still living in the memory of readers of his poems, critics of his poetry. We find that some poets become immortal for their contributions,like there is one poet named U Soso Tham, whose anniversary, people still celebrate as a public holiday in Meghalaya. read the article given here, Click here

Second section :- 

In this part Auden consider Yeats as a silly, just like other people in the world. And says that his poetry make no changes, as he wrote,

For poetry makes nothing happen:

This we can directly connect with corona. As we know that after the world war one and two, numerous poets and writers wrote about disaster, damages, Harmfulness, people's suffering, pain, Chaos, Injustice.. Etc...Etc.. Etc... The poets and writers like 1) Wilfred Owen, 2) John McCrae, 3) Alan Seeger, 4) Veera Britain, 5) Rupert Brooke and many eles wrote about the topics mentioned above. Also we find lots of war poems which reflect the tone i have mentioned above, poems like, 1)War Baby by Pamela Holmes, 2) We Are Not Blessed by Nikolay Mayorov, 3) The Day's March by Robert Nichols..etc. In this all poems and the writers i have mentioned they all are wrote about war and it's disadvantages but still we see that, war between Russia and Ukraine take place. It means somewhere literature is lacking, people, authority are not reading or we can say not understanding it. That's why constantly history will repeating itself.

Section Three :-

In the final section poet wrote about condition of his society. World war one was just ended and people were not came out of it's effect and though world war two he was on the way. And the condition is very pitiful. As poet wrote that,

Intellectual disgrace

Stares from every human face,

And the seas of pity lie

Locked and frozen in each eye.

This condition, is also reflected in today's time. As we see, the entire world was suffered by Pendemic / Corona time for three years constantly. Till 2019 to 2021, and we see that now in 2022, situation seems to get normal back. People are still not came out of pendemic effect and in one corner of world start war. Yes, it is Russia and Ukraine who are fighting. And if the fighting will not get over soon then it is possible that world war three may get start. So again people are in fear,  no one knows that what will happen by very next moment.

So this are some of the major similarities i have find from this poem.

3) Epitaph on a Tyrant

Click here to read original poem

The poem Epitaph on a Tyrant is particularly satire, written on Adolf Hitler. It is very short six line's poem.  The poem starts with the line,

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,

And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;

In this we find a picture of Utopian world. Words like perfection, easy to understand. This all are reflecting utopian idea. Which we can connect with Vladimir Putin as he is also constantly talking about Utopian,ideal world. In the case of Russia - Ukraine war. He gave reason that most of the people of Ukraine, are Russians and they asked us for help and so that, we are attacking on Ukraine to save them, to liberate them, it is a virtual step. Here is a video as a proof what i have written.

He knew human folly like the back of his hand,

And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;

Here, we see that Tyrone like armies and fleets, which reflects cruelty and Battle adoring nature. Which again remind us Vladimir Putin. How he choose war instead of Peace. And then the last two lines,

When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,

And when he cried the little children died in the streets.

Here, direct meaning of first line is very positive that, Tyrone wants to make their senators happy, but if we see, we find one hidden meaning. That there is a feeling of compulsion. Burst with laughter is a sign of artificial, loud laughter. Then in second line we find reference of religion. The line is connected with New Testament, ‘But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven'. For Jesus, the Ideal kingdom are those, who are not forbid people about religion and are not forbid their religious beliefs. Similar thing we find that Vladimir Putin is strongly believe in Christianity. And the Russia - Ukraine war is somewhere resulted for religion too.  Here is the video which talks about that.

This is my understanding about all the three poems with the reference of pendemic / Corona situation and Russia - Ukraine war. It is very difficult for me to relate poems with Russia - Ukraine war. Because i was not habituated to read newspaper and to watch news in television. Though i have searched as much as i could. And try to make blog. {I will soon put link of another question, queer study of theme of lack of acceptance of homosexuality in society.} I hope my blog will be helpful to you! If you find some more points about anything related my blog, then write it in comment section. It will help me to expand my vision and will increase quality of my blog. Also if you have any interesting ideas to make blog more knowledgeable, then type in comment section. Thank you!

[ Words :- 2148 ]

References :-

https://interestingliterature.com/2017/01/a-short-analysis-of-w-h-audens-epitaph-on-a-tyrant/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7147210/

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/defending-religion-ukraine-russia-putin-knox-thames