The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot

When I read the tittle, The Waste Land, my first idea was that it was going to be some dark revelations that he came to, since we were told that he was writing this while he was in a depression. I could not have been more wrong, it is a collection of stories written and placed together, I have to say I was let down when I finished reading. I wanted to read profound thoughts and ideas that only he could see and convince me of and instead I was exposed to random stories. I have to say that I was disappointed in the reading and then I find myself asking, why do I not get the greatness that I hear the instructor talking about?

Maybe it is the time I live in, if your depressed then get to the point and talk about it. Not, write a bunch of stories that allude to your point after hours of discussion.  It has to be the time I live in, with face book and self help everything, beating around the bush is not the society that I live in, we don't have time to sit and ponder, this is a society of it came to mind it must mean something and if not oh well it doesn't matter on to the next thing. Maybe we would benefit from sitting around and debating our true thoughts, and this is what I am suppose to see, as the greatness this author has, but to find out I would have to pay someone 120 dollars per hour to find out and who has the time for that?

Little Did I know...

Little did I know that this blogging thing would take me down, and become my Achilles heel. The concept alone is simple, read, think and write, so why the disdain for a little blog? This blog has kept me stressed over the last few weeks, and the only conclusion I can come up with, is why does my opinion matter, when it comes to these writings?

These selections are apart of the history of America, and for the majority of them I find myself asking why? But who am I to ask why and to question the people who see the greatness? I sit in class and listen as our professor talks about the impact that it had and the only thought I seem to have is, how did everyone get that conclusion when he had to explain it to us? It baffles me, but I am going to put these thoughts behind me and try (and I do say try) to give my little two cents about the writings we are going to read.

Week 4

Post 1: The use of Irony

Both types of irony are deployed throughout Chestnutt’s “The Passing of Grandison.”

 Verbal Irony:

On page 237, when Dick states " He deserves a leather medal made out of his own hide tanned." This seems to be a vary strange way to reward someone, for doing the right thing. I think this represents how frustrated Dick was with the fact that he cannot achieve his purpose of getting Grandison to runaway.

On page 236,Dick tells Grandson that " this is the chance of  your life to go around among your own people and see how they live." This is a strange thing to state to a slave since in these times slaves where considered property that could be sold and yet Dick is referring to "his people" and the way that they live, while back home Dicks' family owns slaves. It seems strange to me that he doesn't agree with the abolitionists and their way of thinking, since he obviously views them as people and not just something to be owned.

Situational Irony:

 Page 237, show an example of situational irony when Dick writes a letter to his father and the father states to a friend, "that Dick out to have the nigger interviewed by the Boston papers, so they may see how contented and happy our darkeys are." Although the irony does not come until the entire story is read, when Grandison returns to take his family back with him to freedom, and uses the fathers opinions to his advantage.

On page page 234, is another example of situational irony. The father has Grandison brought to him and he begins asking him a series of questions: "Grandison, said the colonel, when the negro stood before him, hat in hand.
"Yas,marster."
"Haven't I always treated you right?"
"Yas, marster."
Haven't you always got all you wanted to eat?"
"Yas, marster."
"And as much whiskey and tobacco as was food for you, Grandison?
"Y-as-,marster."
"I should just like to know, Grandison, whether you don't think yourself a great deal better off than those poor free negroes down by the plank road, with no kind master to look after them and no mistress to give them medicine they're sick and-"

This entire conversation is ironic for many reasons, Grandison cannot not answer honestly, due to the repercussions he would receive if he had said no and voiced his own opinion. Grandison, also has no knowledge of what life may be like if he was not a slave and has only one view point to answer this question. When the Colonel implies that Grandison and the other slaves are better off because he is a caring person and shows this in the way that he takes care of them, is  undermined by the fact that he cares for them because they are his property and if he doesn't then he will lose financailly.