In “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” written by Olga Tokarczuk writes the story through the point of view of Janina. Janina is a very big activist and cares a lot about animals and nature. As Janina tells the story she capitalizes many words that do not need to be capitalized. For example; Night, Dog, Deer, Death, Punishment, Soul, and many more words. A discussion question we had in class was “Why do you think capitaliztion is used in this manner”. I think that it is used for many reasons. The first reason to put emphasis on these words because they are important to the story and in a way reveal what is going to happen. We find out that at the end of the book Janina killed all of those people because they were harming animals. The words that were capitalized were the names of the animals, emotions she felt, and what she is going to do. This words symbolized what was going to happen in a way. I also feel that for some of the words, not for all of the but a few that it emphasizes her values and what is important o her. Every name of an animal is capitalized and animals are something that are important and mean a lot to her.
Author: Katie W
Dramatic Comedy in Schitts Creek
The tv show “Schitts Creek” aired from 2015 to 2020 is about a very wealthy couple Jonny and Moira Rose who find themselves completely broke. The only asset they have left is a small town called Schitts Creek, the couple and their two older children David and Alexis relocate there living in a motel. We follow them as they adjust to their new life without wealth. Based on Aristotle’s definition of dramatic comedy, Schitts Creek is definitely one. the creator Dany Levy wrote this show to see and kind of represent how wealthy families like the ones on TV would react if they lost all their money.
Through the comedic aspect, as Aristotle defines “A comedy is a story of the rise in fortune of a sympathetic central character“. While it is a little bit of the opposite in Schitts Creek, as the Rose Family losses their fortune. We see something even bigger. We see how they rise to the fortune of seeing a different meaning in life. As Dan said when he created the show seeing life without the wealth they had. At the same time, they use a lot of comedy to engage the audience while showing their story. This aspect allows the audience to see the important topics that are being brought up about society, wealth, and the meaning of life while making us laugh at the same time. In a sense, it is a bit of Ordinary people’s comedy but it is also at the same time the complete opposite.
Furthermore, as Aristotle uses tragedy “Tragedy depicts the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist and arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience“. The Rose family has a downfall and their whole life changes. We see how this change affects them and how they adjust to it. Schitts Creek is the definition of dramatic comedy it takes aspects of comedy and tragedy of showing the downfall of a character, but later shows their rise and change. All of this while using comedy to make the audience laugh.
Satire in the Office
The Office is an American sitcom and mockumentary that shows the everyday work life of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company employees. The Office portrays the message of understanding and making the best out of situations you are given.
Throughout the nine seasons of “The Office” many forms of satire are used. During the show there is a lot of situational irony because it seems as if it is just a normal boring office space, however the show uses this to mock corperate life. For example in season 5 epiosde 27 “Cafe Disco” from the outside looking in it would seem like a normal office day, however it is quite the opposite as they turned one of the offices into a party room and spent the day there. Furthermore their boss Michael Scott encouraged them to come, which is unlike a normal office. Also in season 5 episode 14 and 15 “Stress Relief” we see a use of hyperbole and sarcasm. During the first part of the episode Dwight puts a fake fire drill on but pretends it is a real fire causing everyone to panic, Dwight made an over exaggeration of the situation, which would not be appropriate in an actual office space. Later they have a roast battle for Michael where all of them use sarcsm and jokes to poke at Michael and makes jokes about him and situations. However through the use of this it mocks the seriousness of how most offics are. Why this is making fun of office culture, it is more then that, it is used to change the view of what offices are really like. It is used to critize the strictness and boriness of offices, and show that it can be made fun.
Disguise Can Be Seen in Different Ways
When someone says they are in disguise or you hear the word disguise you normally think of a physical disguise that hides the person’s physical appearance. As shown in King Lear, Edgar goes in a physical disguise of a beggar known as Poor Tom to hide his identity from everyone. Just like Kent who pretended to be a peasant. However, disguise can be more than hiding your physical appearance, it can be used to hide who a person really is and their personality. Disgues are a very prevalent part of King Lear. Goneril, Regan, and Edmund all ut up a disguise of their personality throughout the play to manipulate the people around them. Edmund has a facade of being very innocent, however, this is all an act. He goes on to betray both his brother Edgar, by making it seem that Edgar wants to kill their father causing Edgar to run away and have to hide. He also goes on to betray his father Gloucester, Edmund tells Albany and Goneril of Gloucester’s involvement with the France army causing him to be punished by having his eyes ripped out. Goneril and Regan also put up a disguise throughout the play. Both daughters put up a facade of being caring daughters but later turn against their father. At the beginning of the play, both daughters showed their affection to their father, however after they got want they wanted, they turned on their father and took everything away from him. Disguise reinforces the theme of authority and identity in the midst of chaos. Many characters throughout the play are either in a physical disguise or a disguise of personality, which influences the power they have.
It’s Not Goodbye
The Alexander 23 song “See You Later“, the first track of the album I’m Sorry I Love You released in 2019 is a song of poetry. The song “See You Later” expresses the difficulty of saying goodbye to someone you love, but it does not mean they are gone forever. Through his use of lyrics and first-person perspective, he deepens our understanding of what he feels because he puts us in the experience that he is going through, an experience that we can relate to by listening to the song.
I don’t want to go
But I can’t afford to miss this flight
This is the first line of the first verse. Throughout the whole song, Alexander 23 uses a first-person perspective. Using the first-person perspective allows us as the listeners to be part of the experience that he is going through of having to leave someone he cares for. He follows Perrines’s definition of poetry as Perrine states “Its function is not to tell us about an experience but to allow us to imaginatively participate in it”. He later writes in the chorus,
When we’re both crying
In this broke down elevator
Alexander 23 puts us in the experience that he is going through because we see the emotions that he is feeling and we are experiencing the journey and emotions with him. Not only do we experience it with him, but we feel what he is feeling and we can relate to that feeling.
Furthermore, Alexander 23 uses personification to exemplify the conflict and emotions that he is going through. We can see how is going through a hard time of having to leave the person he loves. Instead of just writing that, he uses what his heart is saying but what his legs are doing to represent the difficulties he is in. He writes;
Yeah, my heart says “Stay”
My legs are walking on their own
Finally, he uses an oxymoron, as he writes in the first verse, he contradicts himself by saying
Sometimes the only way to get over hurt is to hurt
However, by using this we can see that he is in pain and we see the struggles that he is going through. This line represents the meaning of how hard it is to say goodbye to someone but to get over that feeling, you can not push it away, you have to experience it.
Finally, he uses repetition of the line “see you later”. This is also the title of the song, but this line is repeated many times in the song, it emphasizes the meaning of the song, that it is so hard to see someone you love leave, but it doesn’t mean that they are gone forever, you will see them again.
How the Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger Connect
In The Myth of Sisyphus written by Albert Camus, Sisyphus is condemned to the punishment of pushing a rock up a hill and then watching it roll back down when it gets to the top of the hill, and doing that over and over again. However, throughout his time doing this task over and over again, he has found his happiness because he found his purpose, as long as he keeps pushing the boulder up the hill, he has achieved his purpose. Sisyphus is aware of his future and his fate. Similarly, in The Stranger also written by Albert Camus, Mersault, the main character is put in jail after killing someone. Throughout the story, we see how Mersault shows no empathy. When Mersault is in prison, during an outburst with the chaplain, he realizes that he no longer has freedom. However, he is happy because he accepts his fate.
Both Mersault and Sisyphus are in a lifetime of punishment where they have no freedom. However, they are both happy because they accepted their fate and know what lies in their future. They both found happiness in the situation that they were in. Both stories show the theme of existentialists of meaning and absurdity.
A Different Side of the Secret Women
In the Secret Women Irene and her husband were supposed to go to the Opera Ball. However, her husband says he can not attend due to a work situation. We later find out that both Irene and her husband are at the ball but they are there separately. Throughout Irene’s time at the ball, we can see how she finds freedom in being mysterious and not being known at the ball. On page 331 the author writes “The monstrous pleasure of being alone, free, honest in her crude native state, of being the unknown women, eternally solitary and shameless, restored to her irremediable solitude and immodest innocence by a little mask and concealing costume”. We see the husband’s perspective on Irene here which is a very rude perspective of her. He is making her sound like such a bad person even though he was there for the same reasons. It is unfair to Irene that she is the bad guy and that her husband’s actions are not important. There is a double standard.
Kyle’s Turning Point in Finding Himself
A passage from the Tenth of December that stood out to me was in Victory Lap on page 23 paragraph 2. This paragraph starts out with Kyle battling his own thoughts and you can see the process he is going through of what to do. This has to do with his parents, they are very strict and have a lot of rules for Kyle. However, the last line of this paragraph really stood out to me because you can see the exact moment when Kyle has a turning point. His last thought states “Quiet. I’m the boss of me”. Throughout Kyle’s life he had no control, he followed the rules and that is what he knew. But you can see how he has that moment where he was not letting people control what he was doing anymore. He was taking control of his life. I also thought it was so chilling how we saw that exact change in his mind.
Story Power 