Hollow Men (pg 1599) 3-15-2010

The Hollow Men

While reading this poem all that came to mind was that Elliot was talking about life and the aftermath. From my perspective, I believe that Elliot thought that we as human beings are stuffed on the outside, but hollow on the inside. We are empty, quiet and meaningless he states. Elliot also states that we are violent human beings but that all this wouldn't be remembered once we reached the aftermath. We would still be seen as hollow men. We would be seen as men and women that had emptiness in life. It is interesting how Elliot also states that even though we are empty and hollow human beings, we don't want to be near the death kingdom up to the point where we don't even want to dream about it. It is as if Elliot was scared of death, since he stated that he wanted to wear deliberate disguises so that he wouldn't have to meet death.

Elliot also makes another interesting point. For example, he states that even though we don't want to get near death and we avoid it at all costs. When we do reach that point and when we finally meet deaths kingdom, we grope together and avoid speech. At the same time, Elliot mentions four different kingdoms, one of them being Gods Kingdom. This small detail states that even though we don't want to die, if we do end up dying, it is the wish of any sane man to acquire Gods Kingdom. Eventually, the world ends for us, even though Elliot considered that we lived long lives. However, our lives don't end with a bang, but with a whisper, possibly stating that this is the way most people leave the world.

Elliot's poem is a very interesting one that requires repetitive reading. I believe that Elliot thought that as humans we are empty from the inside. We go about our lives living them, but in the end we feel empty inside, possibly stating that many people die unhappy. We live our lives, and even though we wish to never see death, once we die, we hope to acquire Gods Kingdom. At the same time it is obvious that we want to avoid hell at all costs. Finally, if we are lucky human beings usually live 70-80 years. This is unfortunately not a long time, and for those of us that do reach that age, we have the option of dying peacefully not with a bang, but with a whisper.

Red Wind (Pg 1541) 3-8-2010

Red Wind is a story written by Raymond Chandler during the 1900’s. It is a story about mystery and murder, and very interesting. Chandler does a great job at telling the story little by little and allows the story to unfold by itself. The stories tone is an exiting tone and the way that Chandler begins telling the story allows the readers attention to be caught. Chandler presents the main character Damas as a private investigator that happens to witness a murder while having a drink. He is presented as a smart man that shows sensitivity to others. He is a man that shows tremendous courage and someone that in reality takes risks to find out the truth. Throughout the story, we find out that the man that got killed was Waldo. He was killed by a man named Al Tessilore. However, Damas doesn't know this in the beginning and he comes to find this information by investigating a case that he could have left to the law. However, his nature does not allow him to leave the case to the law and goes his own way to investigate this. Throughout his investigation he meets important figures such as Lola, the woman that was supposed to meet Waldo. He also meets Al but not in the most appropriate way. Al was a violent man that showed up at Damas apartment in order to kill Damas, because he wanted to leave no witnesses. However, it is interesting to note that Damas was helped by Lola. She escapes and Damas does well in calling Copernik, the investigator in charge of Waldo’s murder case. Damas presents Copernik with the murderer, in this case Mr Tessilore, but he also fills Copernik with some lies in order to protect Lola, showing that he was a compassionate being. Eventually, Damas does more investigating, finds out who Waldo, Al, and Mr Frank are and what their involvement with Lola is.

Even though the story is very interesting, what interests me the most was Damas character. Like I mentioned in the beginning, Damas was a man that displayed courage and sensitivity. Damas showed courage in various occasions throughout the story. For example, when the murder left, he was the first to go after him and take the license plate numbers. He investigated Lola, Miss Kolchenko, and Mr Frank. He encountered death when Mr Tessilore threatened him and during all these events, there is no sign that Damas ever carried a weapon or a friend with him. It shows tremendous courage to go after a murder, especially when we consider that Damas was not acquainted with any of the subjects that he dealed with.

Damas also showed sensitivity during the story. He did his best to cover up Lola since she had saved his life. He wasn't going to take this act for granted, and actually helped her out in may ways. From investigating who she was to searching an apartment for her, he did everything possible to help her out, showing that he appreciated what she had done for him. However, Lola was not the only one that was helped by Damas. His compassionate and helpful spirit helped other people such as Miss Kolchenko and Mr Frank, even though he did acquire money from the latter. In fact, he helped all of these people out that he eventually acquired a deal from Mr Copernik and Mr Ybarra that these subjects would not be mentioned.

Feminist Manifesto (Pg.1502) 3-2-2010

Feminist Manifesto

Feminist Manifesto is an interesting letter written by Mina Loy during her lifetime. Even though the letter was never published during her lifetime, it did come out years later. Mina Loy demanded sexual freedom for women and urged women to embrace maternity. I find that the letter that Mina Loy wrote was written with passion, anger, and there is no doubt that she demanded freedom. I found it interesting how she would highlight, underline, and capitalize some words. Maybe she did this because she wanted to stress the importance of what she was saying in some of these words. For example, when she writes that professional and commercial careers were opening up for women at the bottom of page 1502 she then asks the question if that is all they want? Another example is when she writes about women and men inequality. She clearly states that woman and man is not equal. It is clear that Mina Loy was very feminist and I liked the way that she told women to look within themselves and seek what they really were. Mina Loy also encouraged women to make their own decisions, to gain independence, and to not rely on men. She wanted women to destroy the desire to be loved and I believe that this is because she thought that wanting to feel loved, hindered women from gaining certain rights. Mina Loy mentions this herself in a passage on page 1504. She states that a woman gains many rights from a man when she offers her virginity, but what about those that don't have that “advantageous” bargain? Those that don't have that bargain were debarred from maternity and this is something that deeply bothered Loy.

Mila Loy firmly believed that every woman had a right to maternity because she felt that women in general had superior intelligence and didn't need to rely on men. She didn't want women to rely on men and wanted them to lead their own lives in an independent way. She stated that women had to lose the desire of honor, sentimentality, and pride. At the same time, she stated that women had to lose jealousy, sentimentality and grief. Finally she stated that there was nothing impure in sex and that people saw sex as impure simply because it was a mental issue. Mila Loy did a great job in writing this letter and many things that she wrote about are easy to agree with. Women don't have to rely on men, they do deserve the same rights as men, and in this case they deserve the right to engage in maternity. This is her race responsibility and it is something that Loy believed should not be taken away, regardless of the situation that a woman was in.