The Stranger 3

Mersault feels compelled to kill the Arab who assaulted Raymond. He cannot make the decision whether to hurt or leave the Arab alone, so he lets himself go free and releases his free will. He frees himself from care and lets the influence of other take over, "It occurred to me that all I had to do was turn around and that would be the end of it. But the whole beach, throbbing in the sun, was pressing on my back" (58). All of the external influences of life, represented by the "beach", are pushing Mersault to kill the Arab. Mersault feels pressured to act in violent ways towards the man he feels nothing for. Because he is indifferent to the man and world around him, it makes it easier for him to kill.

"We Real Cool" - Gwendolyn Brook

Thesis: Gwendolyn Brook's use of end rhyme in the poem We Real Cool sets the prideful tone of the seven pool player in the pool room.

Most every line of the poem We Real Cool ends with the word "We".  The repetition of "We" in every line emphasizes the collective nature of the group and shows their up beat confident tone. The end rhyme persists until the last line where it abruptly ends, stating, "We/ Sing sin. We/ Thin Gin. We/ Jazz June. We/ Die soon."(6-8). The abrupt end in end rhyme and repetition signifies the end of the group and the death of the pool players. The poem's structure symbolizes the brief, yet fun, lifestyle that the pool players live. The abrupt end signifies the untimely death of the players due to their reckless and care free lifestyle.  

The Stranger 2

When speaking to his neighbor Raymond, Mersault hints at his casual racism and dislike of the Arab race. Raymond intends to write a letter to his mistress, begging her to come back so he can ultimately beat her. He asks Mersault for preform this task for him, however, Mersault declines. It is not until the race of the mistress is revealed when Mersault changes his mind; "When [Raymond] told me the woman's name I realized she was Moorish. I wrote the letter" (32). While Mersault makes no direct connection to the woman's race and the beating, his sudden change of heart and willingness to write the letter (which leads to a beating) implies his dislike for the Moorish race. By casually slipping in his racist thoughts, Mersault foreshadows a much larger racist conflict inside of himself. 

"My mistress' eyes" - Shakespeare

Thesis: The outlandishly-hyperbolic tone of the speaker in "My mistress' eyes" displays the speaker's mocking attitude towards cliched romantic poetry.

In the poem "My mistress' eyes", the speaker mocks traditional romantic metaphors. To emphasize his jeering attitude, the speaker creates a multitude of ridiculously hyperbolic metaphors in which he describes his lover. At one point he remarks, "Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head" (2-4). The speaker mimics traditional love poems through the use of numerous cliches and metaphors to describe his lover. The speaker, however, reveals his mocking tone through his use of comedy. The metaphors, traditionally used to describe beauty and pleasurable features, outline the mistress' ugly and horrid outer shell. In the final couplet, the tone shifts from mockery to sentimentality. The speaker reflects on how it is nonsensical to use such intense metaphors to describe love. He believes that his love is rare and valuable and is not to be described through such comparisons.

PODG7

Oscar Wilde uses vivid imagery of the opium districts, in which Dorian travels, to reflect the grim and dark emotions that Dorian attempts to suppress. The scene is set as,

"A cold rain began to fall, and the blurred street-lamps looked ghastly in the dripping mist. The public-houses were just closing, and dim men and women were clustering in broken groups round their doors. From some of the bars came the sound of horrible laughter. In others, drunkards brawled and screamed" (135).

The dark and dreariness of the street reflects Dorian's complex emotions towards his murder of Basil. Wilde attempts to hide and suppress Dorian's emotions; Dorian acts very casually at Lady Narborough's party, albeit he speaks suspiciously around Henry. Dorian does not directly state the reason for his unhappy feelings. In order to reveal Dorian's true feelings, Wilde projects Dorian's bleak emotions on the weather and the poor district. The scene is described as "cold" and "ghastly", just as Dorian's emotions are chilling and ghostly. Despite his attempts at controlling his emotions, Dorian feels regret for killing his friend. His main goal in traveling to the opium district is "'To cure the soul by means of the senses'" (135). Dorian wants to drown his feelings in artificial happiness and pleasure brought on by opium high. While his emotions are not explicitly stated, one can see the true feelings of Dorian gray projected onto the secne around him.

PODG6

The influence that Lord Henry has on Dorian effectively turns Dorian into a new version of himself. One of Lord Henry's favorite pastimes is to delve into, and influence, the minds of anyone who listens. When he meets Dorian, Henry takes a particular liking to the naive and innocent young man. He quickly influences and corrupts Dorian's mind and leads Dorian to behave like himself, Henry. When Basil catches Dorian in the street, late one foggy night, Basil describes to Dorian the many boys which he has influenced and wrecked. Basil says to Dorian "One has the right to judge a man by the effect he has over his friends" (110). In Basil's speech to Dorian, there are many parallels to Basil's earlier speeches to Lord Henry about Henry's influence over Dorian. Like Lord Henry, Dorian has negative effects over many of his acquiescence. Just as Lord Henry leads Dorian down a bad path, Dorian is leads many of his young, possibly innocent, friends into a corrupt life of half truths and overzealous indulgences.