Hamlet By Shakespeare

Hamlet takes place in Denmark. Hamlets father, the king, was just killed. His brother, Claudius has taken the throne and married Hamlet's mother. The first scene of this play sets a tome of distrust, suspense, and darkness. Late at night, some watchmen see a ghost that they believe is the ghost of the king. They bring Hamlet to see the ghost and what it wants. The ghost talks to him, saying that Claudius is the one that killed him and that Hamlet must seek revenge against him. Hamlet contemplates how he will go about doing this, but because he is super deep and thoughtful, he is driven mad. The characters around him see this and worry about him. The King and Queen (Polonius and Gertrude) decide that they are going to have Hamlet's friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern firgure out what is going on. Polonius is a Lord, and the father of Ophelia. He claims that Hamlet is in love with Ophelia. They spy on their conversation, and Hamlet only seems mad, but doesn't show any love for her. he repeatedly says "Get thee to a nunnery!" possibly meaning that she and him had some past relations and her reputation is damaged, and she will never be wed. She may even be pregnant. Later on Hamlet finds his Uncle/King praying, and thinks about killing him then and there. He stops and doesn't do it at this time however, because he wants to do it at a time heis doing something bad, so that he cannot go to heaven. Claudius is fearful of Hamlet and his intentions now, so he orders him to go to England. When Hamlet meets with his mother in her chamber, he hears someone hiding. Thinking it is the king, he stabs him before he can see who it is. It is Polonius, Ophelia's father. After this, Hamlet is told to go to England with his friends, and be sentenced to death there. When Ophelia finds out about her father's death, this puts her over the edge, and she drowns herself. Drowning is something that was common at that time period for women to do is their reputations were ruined because they were impregnated, so we can also assume that she was pregnant with Hamlet's child. When Laertes, Ophelia's brother, finds out that both his sister and father are dead, he comes into the play. Claudius, who wants Hamlet dead, tells Laertes that Hamlet is the one to blame for the deaths. When they find out that Hamlet is on his way back, they plan a fight between Laertes and Hamlet. Claudius and Laertes plan to have a sword laced with poison, so the slightest cut would kill him. They also has a cup of poisoned wine as a back up if the sword didn't work. When Hamlet gets back and the fight begins, Hamlet gets the first hit, and is invited to drink the wine. He says no and instead the queen drinks it and dies. I believe that this was on purpose, to save her son. Laertes does cut Hamlet with the poisoned sword, but also himself, so he dies. Hamlet stabs Claudius and makes him drink the wine, and he dies as well. At the very end, Hamlet dies. Hamlet tells Horatio to carry on his story and what has happened to him since he is one of the only ones left that Hamlet trusts. Fortinbras also takes over the kingdom when all other possible people are dead.

One famous quote from this play is "To be or not to be, that is the question." This is Hamlet contemplating death towards the beginning of the play. This starts out one of Hamlet's extremely long speeches.

Hamlet is the main character in this play. He is the Prince of Norway. When his father died, he was upset by the fact that his uncle quickly stepped in and also married his mother. This bothered him a lot, and only added to his hatred of Claudius once he finds out that he is the one that killed his father. Hamlet is somewhat mad in this story, but also has quite a bit of intelligence. He studied at the University of Wittenberg. Throughout this play, one can see that Hamlet is indecisive about when to kill his uncle, but also rash in certain situations, like the conversation between him and Ophelia.

Claudius is the new king of Denmark, once he kills his brother. One of the guards can see that something bad is going on right at the beginning. He says, "something is rotten in the state of denmark..." They can see that Claudius becoming the new leader is no accident and that something bad is about to happen involving him. Without Claudius, there would be no story, or no reason for Hamlet to become mad.

Ophelia is the daughter of Polonius, who was killed by Hamlet. She and Hamlet had some past relations, but now Hamlet only gets angry with her, telling her to go to a nunnery. She may have been impregnated by Hamlet early on, and that is why she feels so upset about Hamlet's anger with her. She ends up going crazy, singing songs and handing out flowers that have different meaning before she drowns herself.

Laertes is Ophelia's brother, and a foil of Hamlet. Hamlet is rather indecisive and waits to kill and get revenge. Laertes is the opposite, wanting to get revenge as soon as e possibly can. He can not wait to kill and get revenge for his families deaths, when Hamlet is the opposite.

The Narrative voice in this play is told from the voices of all of the characters themselves. They together make up the Narrative voice, so at times they will be very subjective, and other times objective. Most of the time I see the characters showing subjective narrating. They are constantly showing their emotions and describing things in ways that support their own opinions and thoughts on a specific event or character. Hamlet and Laertes both show much anger in their speech after they find out about their families killings, and Ophelia is always crying or upset about Hamlet.

THEME: It is impossible to be 100% certain you are right in life changing decisions.
This is shown by Hamlet and his indecisiveness. He questions himself too much and thinks about things too much, that he does not figure out a way to kill Claudius until the end of the play, and he did not even come up with the idea himself. Claudius's plan almost backfired on him causing him to be killed. The uncertainty of Hamlet in this play shows the reader that it is in general hard to be certain about any life changing decisions.

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

In the beginning of Fifth Business, we meet Dunstan. As he is walking home, one of his friends throw a snowball with rocks in it, and misses and hits the pregnant Mary Dempster, who is out for a walk with her reverend Husband. She falls to the ground and goes into early labor, having a premature boy named Paul. Ever since this event throughout Dunny's entire life he feels guilt for dodging the snowball. Dunstan helped to take care of Paul, because his mother did not trust Mrs. Dempster as a mother. Dunstan worked at a library, and eventually comes to liking the topics of Saints and magic. This is interesting because these two topics almost contradict each other. Dunstan used to teach Paul card tricks and magic tricks when he visited, but Pauls father found out and did not allow Dunstan to come over anymore. When Mrs. Dempster is found interacting with a tramp, she is forced to stay home and not leave. Even though this occured, Dunstan still loved her and found her saint-like. Later on, Dunstan's mother tells him not to see Mrs. Dempster anymore. He then joins the army, where he loses a leg. One important thing in this story is since the beginning of the book until now, Dunstan was referred to as Dunstable. He changes his name to Dunstan because this is the name of a saint who fought off the devil, and he thinks that he has done this as well when he refuses to marry a woman named Diana. Boy eventually marries Leola and moves to Europe.  Back at home, Paul runs away with the circus because he can not stand living with his mothers crazy reputations hanging over him. He uses the card tricks that Dunstan once taught him. Dunstan seems as if he has found love with a woman named Feona, who Paul works in the circus with. But this ended when he found her with Liesl. Liesl becomes friends with him, and helps him realize things about himself. This is when the mention of him being a fifth business comes up. He is always there, but never a main contributor in the action, only watching on the sides. But he is also necessary in the plot. Boy is a Dustan's lifelong friend, and the one who actually hit Mrs. Dempster with the snowball. Boy claims that he does not remember the occurrence even though he was old enough to remember and was very involved in the scene. Dunstan, who is now working as a school teacher, goes back and finds Mary and meets her like a new friend. Eventually Dunstan finds Paul working under a different name in a circus. Dunstan, Paul, and Boy all meet up, and Dunstan tells Paul about the night when Boy hit his mother, and that he is the reason for her insanity. the next day in the show, Boy was killed, and Dunstan suffers a heart attack.

Dunstan is a significant character in this novel. He is the main character, but also the fifth business. He is necessary for the novel to work out, but is never the center of attention or the character who has a big impact on them. He is usually the one who makes impacts on others. He is obsessed with saints, and with magic and is Paul's mentor with magic. He is also in love with Mrs. Dempster, even though she isconsidered crazy. He sees her as a saint like figure, even after her encounter with a tramp.

Boy is also a character in this book that is significant. He is Dunstan's childhood friend, and is in the first scene with him. He is the one that throws a snowball with a rock in it and causes the problems with Mrs. Dempster. During the book, His name changes from Percy to Boy. He becomes a wealthy business man even though the population is suffering from the great depression. He also helps Dunstan out of the depression by telling him to invest in his own company.

Paul- He is the son of Mrs. Dempster who was born prematurely due to the hit. He learns magic from Dunstan, and takes it to the circus with him when he runs away to avoid his mothers reputation. He later becomes a wonderful magicial and changes his name.

Mrs. Dempster- She is the one that got hit by the snowball and is the mother of Paul. For some reason, Dunstan takes a great liking to her, and spends a lot of time with her. Even though she is mentally insane, Dunstan sees her as a saint because of the three miracles he witnessed that were performed by her.

"I was contrite and guilty, for I knew that the snowball had been meant for me, but the Dempsters did not seem to think of that." (page 3) This shows that the guilt hits Dunstan the moment the snowball hit Mrs. Dempster, and he feels this throughout the rest of the book.

"So I was alone with my guilt, and it tortured me. I was a Presbyterian child and I knew a good deal about damnation." (Page 15) This only adds to the idea that he is guilty about what happened to Mrs. Demptster, and the fact that he brings religion into it also brings up the theme of religion and saints that is seen throughout the book.

The Narrative voice in this work is in first person, being told by Dunstan. He has a objective voice at times, and at other times is rather subjective. He is Objective at one point when he is talking about the death of his family members. This is something that one should be subjective about, but he is not. Other times however, he is subjective with his descriptions. If he is talking about saints or Mrs. Dunstan, he feels more emotional about them and is more subjective. There is also some imagery in this piece, but I would say that in general his work is more mattor-of-factly rather than flowery.

THEME: Religion and Spirituality do not necessarily help a person in life.
This is seen through examples from the text. Although Dunstan has a great interest in the saints, he is not being helped by God in some overarching way. especially with Mrs. Dempster. He almost sheds religion on her, yet she is crazy and has a bad reputation.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Bennet family lives in a wealthy area. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five unmarried daughters that they would love to set up with nice wealthy men. There is news that Charles Bingley is renting a home nearby. Mr. Bennet meets him, and at a Ball, Bingley pays a lot of attention to the oldest daughter, Jane. Bingley's friend, Mr. Darcy is also at the ball, but he does not find much interest in anyone. Jane and Bingley continue to see each other, and Darcy starts to become interested in the second oldest girl, Elizabeth. Jane eventually visits Bingley at his mansion, but gets caught in the rain on the way there and has become ill. In order to see her sister, Elizabeth walks through the woods and is very muddy by the time se gets to Bingley's house. Bingley's sister is upset to see that Darcy has eyes for Elizabeth. When Elizabeth finds out, she rejects him. But the second time he tries to talk to her she accepts it and talks back. Later on, Mr. Collins asks Elizabeth to marry him and she refuses. His spirits are crushed, but he eventually gets married to Charlotte, Elizabeth's friend. Elizabeth promises to visit them. The girls also meet soldiers, including a man named Wickham. Wickham is attracted to Elizabeth, but she is not interested. Lydia though gets permission to live where his military base is because she loves him. They elope and get married, an Mr. Bennet is upset by this. Jane and Bingley get married. Then Darcy proposes, and Elizabeth is supposed to say no because that is what she told his sister, but she accepts.

Jane is the oldest sister who marries Bingley. She is beautiful, kind and reserved compared to her sister Elizabeth. Elizabeth is the next oldest, and ends up marrying Darcy. She is very sensible and intelligent. She was well educated and well read, and sometimes knows more about things than most people.

Mr. Bingley is the man who first moved here, and all the girls swarmed him. Many girls wanted to dance with him at the dance but out of all of them he chose Jane. Bingley is a gentleman and is kind and easy going throughout the novel. He doesn't care as much about the differences between classes, and compares greatly with Darcy.

Darcy is Bingley's friend, and comes to live with him when he first moves into the area. He is attractive, but no one likes him because of his rude and stuck up manner. Everyone thinks that he is very self centered and has a lot of pride. Elizabeth thinks this at first, but eventually gets to know him well enough that she does not see the pride in him as much anymore. They end up marrying.

Mr. and Mrs. Bennet are the parents of all of the girls in the story. Mr. Bennet does not take much interest in finding his girls a husband, and his favorite child is Elizabeth. Mrs. Bennet is obsessed with finding her girls a wealthy husband and is sometimes a bad mother because of it.

Mr. Collins is a wealthy man that tries to marry Elizabeth. She is not interested because of his odd personality so her friend, Charlotte ends up marrying him.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." this quote is important because it basically sets the plot for the rest of the novel. This is the first sentence of the book, and shows the idea of what the play will be mainly about; rich men finding wives.

"Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien..." This shows what people first thought of Darcy and the women looking for a husband really admired him at first. This goes on to say that they saw his pride and became less interested.

The narrative voice in this piece is in third person. The narrator seems to be all knowing, omniscient. They know everything about all of the characters and even though they are telling the story, they have a semi-subjective voice throughout. They will write in a way that makes the reader dislike a certain character, or feel bad for a certain character. The narrator also uses some imagery when describing certain situations or people to us, like when describing Darcy for the first time. There is not a huge variety of examples of imagery found, but it is still there to compliment the narrative voice in the piece.

THEME: Social standings and first impressions should not blind people from true love.
Examples of this are in the text, with the relationships between Darcy and Elizabeth, and even Bingley and Jane. Darcy first felt prejudice against Elizabeth and did not like her because of her social standings. Elizabeth, on the other hand, did not like Darcy one bit because of his pride and rude nature. After they are around each other enough and actually get to know each other a little, they can see past their first impressions and find a way to love each other. Bingley and Jane's relationship starts out stronger, and almost show the right way to feel and act in first impressions. Bingley automatically takes a liking to Jane, even though she is from a lower social class. Jane also takes a liking to Bingley right away because of his kind and genuine nature. They are a model couple of looking past all possible impressions that may be made.

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

Ceremony is about a boy named Tayo, who is half Native American and lives on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation around the time of WW2. He was born to his Native American mother and a white man that he does not know. Tayo talks about the memories of his mother, and living by a bridge on a river. He did not see much of his mother, and when he did she was with men. When his mother died, he lived with his aunt and uncle. His family was embarrassed if him though, and his mothers actions because he is half white. This is a disgrace to his family and his community, and he has to deal with it even though it was totally out of his control. His aunt does not like him, and never wanted him to be with her son, Rocky. This did not happen however, and Rocky and Tayo became good friends. They went to war together in order to feel like they were not inferior to the white people. While a soldier, they felt more respected, and were able to fight for their country without the worry of feeling inferior to the white race. In the war, Rocky was killed. This takes a huge toll on Tayo, and he feels that the reason Rocky died was because of him, even though this was not the case. His Aunt only enforces this thought, basically saying that "He should have died out there instead." Rocky was successful in high school. He was good at sports and had a girlfriend. He was going to go somewhere in life, so when he died, the whole community knew about it and sent the condolences to his mother. During the war, it was very rainy where they were stationed. One day, Tayo wished for the rain to stop. Later on when he got home, there was a drought. Tayo believed that he was the reason that the drought occurred, which sends him into more panic. When Tayo gets home from the war, he has post traumatic stress disorder and is constantly freaking out. His friends from the war also have this problem, only less severe and they turn to drinking to cure it. This does not work for Tayo, so Tayo seeks more help. He goes to a medicine man, who helps him go through a ceremony to make him better. He only considers the old traditions and does not take new ones into consideration. This works a little bit, but not fully. When this doesn't work, he is sent to another medicine man named Betonie. Betonie is a medicine man that includes all of the traditional ceremony, only he adds in more influence from the white community. This is just what Tayo needs, because his problems are occuring in a mainly white dominated world. When Tayo leaves Betonie, his ceremony is not fully complete. Tayo is looking for his uncle's cattle, when he meets Ts'eh, who is a woman that is at one with nature and the world. He spends a lot of time with her, but eventually has to leave because his war friend Emo was spreading rumors about him and the police are after him. While he is out and hiding from Emo and the police, he realizes the last step of his ceremony is to stay somewhere an entire night and watch his friend, Harley get killed by Emo.

Tayo is the major character in this book. He is a young man who is half mexican with green eyes and is hated for it. He was also in the war, coming back with post traumatic stress disorder and needing to be healed by a ceremony.  Because of his experiences, he knows a lot about the white culture surrounding him. He also knows a lot about the Native American culture. This is the reason why his ceremony must involve both parts, because he is aware of the surrounding white community and his feeling if inferiority.

Harley, Emo, and Pinky are all childhood friends of Tayo and also went to war with him. They became raging alcoholics when they came back, because it helped them deal with their feelings.

Betonie was the medicine man that finally cured Tayo and allowed him to finish a ceremony. He includes white culture with the native american culture in the ceremony, which is exactly what Tayo needed to be cured. He is a more current medicine man, even though he is not trusted by the very traditional native americans.

Aunt is of course, Tayo's aunt, or his mothers sister. She does not have a good relationship with Tayo at all, starting from when he was born. (Half white) She did not want her son to acquaint himself with Tayo, even though he did. She was upset when Tayo came back from war instead of Rocky. She has made him feel excluded since the beginning.

"Accidents happen, and there is little we can do. But don't be so quick to call something good or bad." this is bentonie speaking to Tayo and giving him life lessons. This is a great thing for Tayo to hear because he is always blaming things on himself.

The narrative voice in this novel is in third person, only we do see into Tayo's thought process, dreams, and ideas. We also see that the voice is subjective, giving opinions on different events and people. Emo and drinking in this book are always described in a negative tone that is almost gross to read. When Tayo and the descriptions of him and Ts'eh are very light and cheery. Overall a very subjective piece. There are examples of imagery everywhere in this book. The entire book is basically one big picture of imagery. "The smell of clay and mountain sage stirred old memories." The plot in this book is a little different. Normally in western literature it is in a linear storyline but this book is in a circular storyline. This makes it more interesting and does quickly from the current story to a story of the past.

THEME: It is essential to preserve tradition, no matter what, in order to keep communities alive.
this is supported with the ideas in the book. Tayo must go through a ceremony, which is an extremely traditional event, in order to get better.

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Death of a Salesman starts with Willy Loman talking about his work and driving to his wife, Linda. Linda is sweet and encouraging, but Willy sometimes will burst out in anger against her. Their sons are also home at this point, Biff and Happy. Biff is the older one, and gets more attention and criticisms from his father. He wants to work on a farm, but Willy does not want this for his son. Biff and Willy continuously fight and bicker about the future and what Biff should do with his life. Throughout the play, there are a number of flashbacks that go back to a time where everyone was happy and friendly with each other. Biff is a football star that will one day play in college, and Willy is doing well with his job. Willy's brother, Ben, is also in Willy's day dreams along with Bernard and his father. Bernard is a smart boy about Biff's age that tutors Biff in math and eventually becomes successful. Later on, to please his father, Biff goes out and tries to get a loan to start a business with Hap, and he knows his father wants him to do it. Willy can not get over the idea, and does not allow Biff to explain that he did not get a job. There is another important flashback of Willy with a mistress in a hotel where he stays when he has to work a lot. Biff walks in and finds out about the mistress, but never tells his mother because he is very protective of her. I believe that this is one of the main reasons there is so much tension between Biff and Willy throughout the play. The piece ends with Biff and Willy getting into a fight, Willy driving away, and getting killed. His family goes to his funeral, but no one else.

Willy is a significant character in this play. He is a father, husband, brother, friend, worker, and owner of a mistress a time or two. He tends to have dreams where he goes back to the old times, when things were happier. I think he does this because he longs to be back in that time, and he longs to be happy and have a good relationship with his sons like he used to. The inclusion of Ben is also something that is rather significant. Ben was a successful man, so I think the use of including him was to show that Willy wanted to be like him, and have a life like him. Willy was obsessed with making sure people liked him. He thought that this was the key to success. He taught his boys this, and tried to make it happen in his own life. This idea is something that is significant about Willy's character. Willy also gets with a mistress behind his wife's back. I think he does this because he is almost not happy with his life back home, and wants to feel like he is needed.

Biff is another significant character, as well as Happy. Biff has his own dreams and ideas of what living a full life is, and it is very different than what his father thinks. His father thinks that to be successful you must make a lot of money and be liked by many people. Biff thinks being happy is living in the countryside, and working on a farm. He does not want what his father does. Biff also has tension because of what he knows about his father cheating on his mother. Happy is a more minor character, but should not be ignored. He is not seen or talked about as much as Biff is by his father. Repeatedly, Happy says to his father things like, "I'm losing weight pop, you notice?" All he wants is attention from his father, but his father does not see it. I think this is one of the reasons that Happy is so involved with women. He does not feel wanted or loved by his father, so he turns to women.

Linda in this story is rather important. The boys both love her dearly and almost try to protect her. When Biff finds out about his father cheating, he does not tell her because he doesn't want to hurt her, but he is also extra protective of her. Linda keeps Willy somewhat sane by talking him through things. When Willy sets up a tube in the basement so he can kill himself, she notices it. She leaves it there so Willy does not feel so dependent, but she is also aware of it herself. Linda also takes care of money and such in the house, because she does not have mental problems like Willy does.

In this piece, we see almost a third person limited in the narrative voice. We see an outsider's view on the family and their situations, yet we see some of Willy's dreams and memories that are played out in his mind. The tone throughout the piece of the narrative voice was pretty objective, giving an unbiased view on the whole scene of events. It is also hard to discuss the tone of the overall play because throughout, characters in different situations will have different underlying tones. There is also not much imagery, because the writing is all conversation between characters. The one place in which I see imagery is in the beginning, when Willy is explaining the drive from work. He talks about the scenery and that he forgets he is driving all together, and comes off the road because he is daydreaming. "I have such strange thoughts, I have such strange thoughts." says Willy after telling linda about his driving. This passage is very detailled.

THEME: Being well liked does not guarantee living the American dream.
This theme is supported by details from the text. in general, all that willy cared about was being well liked, and he thought this would get him the furthest in life when it clearly didn't. He had no one at his funeral. The American dream is not achieved by being well liked or working hard, its about being happy. This is something that Willy never considered, which is the reason why he does not achieve the American dream. His neighbor, Bernard just worked hard and lived his life, and he is not living the American Dream. These to people/families compare and are drastically different from one another.

The American Dream by Edward Albee

The American Dream by Edward Albee starts off with explaining the scene of the play. Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma live in an average to lower class house. Mommy thinks that they live a higher lifestyle. The reader can see that at the beginning when Mommy explains her hat encounter at the store. She picks out and buys a hat, thinking it is beige. She walks out of the store, and a woman from the woman's club (meaning upper class) tells Mommy she has a lovely wheat colored hat. Mommy gets upset by this comment because the woman called her hat wheat colored. The color of the hat is important to Mommy because the wheat color is referring to farming, meaning lower class, and beige is a classier name that makes her sound sophisticated. This scene shows that Mommy is very concerned with social status. Later in the play, there are comments made that make it sound as is Mommy only married Daddy for is money, even though he doesn't have much.
The character, Grandma is introduced soon after. She comes off as being an old woman who complains about they way old people are treated. She says that the way they are talked to basically brings them to their death. She constantly complains, and yet she is the most knowledgeable character in the story. She knows and acknowledges the audience, and knows more about Mrs. Barker's hint about Mommy and Daddy's child than they do. Grandma also has the important role of being almost the director of the play. She controls the action, and almost allows the reader to understand what happens next. At the very end of the play Grandma is completely outside of the actual play and talks directly to the audience, fully knowing that they are there. Grandma is the most knowing character by far.
Throughout the beginning of the play, Mommy and Daddy continually bring up that someone is running late that should be meeting them. They refer to the people running late as "them", when later we find out that a woman, Mrs. Barker, is the one that is coming to meet them. She is referred to as "them" and "it" because she is symbolically a corporation, the corporation of the adoption service that brought Mommy and Daddy their child they killed 20 years ago. She is also the woman who Mommy ran into outside the store. She is almost a model of the responsible American housewife. Why does she come to see Mommy and Daddy? Well, She does not even know the answer to that. Mommy and Daddy plan to have her come by in order to get satisfaction about their past child.
Towards the end, the young man is introduced. He happens to be the twin of the boy that Mommy mutilated and killed when he was young because he "only had eyes for his daddy" and "called mommy a dirty name". The twin is referred to as the American Dream by grandma. Because he is a twin, he felt all of the loss of feelings that his brother did when he was being tortured and killed. Now, he is basically a hollow shell with no feelings or emotions. Oddly enough, mommy wants to keep him around to fill the void of not having a son, and to get satisfaction.
Throughout the play, Daddy plays a low tone role. He is emasculated by Mommy and is forced into agreeing with everything that Mommy says and not having his own voice. Mommy says, "Daddy has tubes now, where he used to have tracts." This basically shows how controlling Mommy is of Daddy and how emasculated Daddy is because of her. Daddy plays the low key, agreeing husband throughout the play.
Like discussed before, the narrative voice in this play is Grandma, because she takes the role of the director and provides a narrative on the play and the action. The tone throughout this play changes based on the situation that Grandma is in. If she is listening to Mommy say rude things about old people and her, she is rather snappy and has a condescending tone, almost looking down on Mommy because Grandma is much more intelligent. When Grandma is talking to the young man, she also has an intelligent tone, but is much more open and friendly with him. Overall, the tone of  the narrative voice is intellectual. I personally did not see much imagery throughout the piece, because it is a play with very dumb characters who are not all that great at adding imagery to make things more exciting.

THEME: achieving the american dream and satisfaction will never truly happen.
Events in the play support this theme. Mommy not being able to achieve satisfaction with Daddy and the hat is one. They also do not achieve satisfaction with their first child. When Mommy marries Daddy, she is hoping she will achieve the American dream because she will have a lot of money and a family and what not. in reality she is not that wealthy, only acts like it, and because of her lack of satisfaction, she does not achieve the American dream. When the young man finally comes, he looks like he is going to bring satisfaction and the American Dream (Grandmas reference), but he does not because of his emptiness. the young man symbolizes the American Dream, but on the inside he is nothing, meaning the American dream and wanting to achieve satisfaction is not possible.

Synthesis of Course Material #4

One thing that has been a huge part of this class and its work outside of the classroom is annotating and close readings. For every book or play we have read in class, we have to annotate and reread the piece again. This is something that was rather new to me, but helpful to get practice in because I'm sure this will be something I will have to do in future classes. The second time through reading, once we have discussed some ideas as a class, it is so much easier to find deeper meanings behind sentences and speeches given by the characters. I can look for DIDLS examples in the text, and themes as well. We were told to stop and ask questions as we go through a close read, and to question the way you feel as you are reading along. Why am I bored? Why am I angry? We learned to make notes on this, and really get into the conversations between characters. I have also found myself connecting events in the novels to events from my life. Annotations and Close Readings are some skills that I have found to be a large part of this course.