1st paragraph

When the book starts. Meursault is at his mother's funeral. We see him as a passive, dispassionate, who doesn't even know himself. He cannot seem to connect or acknowledge anybody around him. In the opening sentence explains that he is at his mother's funeral which shows how absurd Meursault's outlook on life is."Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know. I got a telegram from the home: " Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours." That doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday" ( Camus, 12).  We see his emotional difference, and  detachment to people. He is unaware of his surroundings and does not even remember the day of the death of his mother, but it "doesn't mean anything " anyways to him.  

Intro paragraph

In Albert Camus' The Stranger,  Meursault is a lonely and detached character who shows brutal honesty. He is an independent man who's moods are changed by the powers of nature and who would not lie to save his own life. Meursault is a hard character to read. At first we do not distinguish the changes in Meursault's attitude, he starts being uninterested and life... And finishes uninterested in life yet we do notice jurassic and important changes beneath the surface.  Meursault starts off being a dispassionate and indecisive man and finishes being an understanding and starts to think about himself. Throughout to book he meets situations where he is forced to think and consider himself and slowly but surely stops being passive through his action and words. 

Outline The Stranger

How does Meursault change as a person from the start of the book until the very end and how noticeable are these changes?

Introduction
- quick summary of how meursault is at the beginning and how he is at the end. Quick analysis on the characters and the events that make him change his mind

1st paragraph
- talk about meursault in the very beginning at his mother's funeral.
- analyze how he feels at that moment

2nd paragraph
-talk about the scene in the courtroom
- analyze how little he cares of being accused for murder

3rd
- how did his life in prison change him?
- reflect on how was obliged to feel I prison because that is all he could do

Conclusion
Talk how he changed and now it has affected the reader

Thesis.
- although Meursault was seen as a human who lacks of emotion and is indifferent to what happens around him, he is though forced to open his heart to indifference of the universe and does start to feel more and more emotions

The Stranger essay question

How does Meursault change as a person from the start of the book until the very end and how noticeable are these changes.

The stranger blog

Albert Camus' The Stranger is written in a non frivolous and simple way. It has meticulous detailed parts that make you appreciate all of the aspect of the story. The sentences are a little clipped and sometimes seems extremely childish. The story is expressed with clarity profoundness. The writing style is very honest and makes it a pleasure to read.

blog post

When looking at Hunger Games and Pride and Prejudice, we clearly see a difference in style reading and story wise. One is aiming towards a wider range of people while the other one is mostly written towards a smaller group of people. There writing style are completely different in vocabulary and difficulty of reading.Hunger Games is usually aimed towards teenagers although adults can also choose it for a nice and enjoyable read. It is not written for very young crowds because of the idea of the story and the numerous killings that happens in it. Pride and Prejudice has a much more realistic story and is more oriented towards a more mature crowd, still teenagers but older one. While both cover romance, they have different definition of what it means to be I love, in Hunger Games the protagonist has to watch the person almost reaching the lights of heaven before realizing that she might just have very strong feelings for him. In Pride and Prejudice they just want to marry a man no matter what. The woman could hate the man but as long as he has money she will stay by his side. Hunger Games is very easy to write and has much more simpler vocabulary:"Prim is screaming hysterically behind me. She’s wrapped her skinny arms around me like a vice."( Collins 22) Pride and prejudice is also not a very difficult book to read however it is more complicated and there are some of the sentences that you would need to red again in order to understand it completely : " He spoke well but there were feelings beside those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride." ( Austen 129). As you can see in both of the quotes, there is a difference in the formality of the writing. Pride and Prejudice Prejudice is much more formal in it's writing than the Hunger games is which is shows the difference of targeted crowds between both books. Overall, Hunger Games is a much easier and funner book to read but Pride and Prejudice has its moments and is also a great book to read. 

In class quiz

Topic 3

When we first read the book, Gregor wakes up one morning and notices that he has been transformed into a bug. While the reader is in disbelief, Gregor on the other hand is perfectly calm and seem to still keep a human conscience. His mind is completely unchanged compared to his appearance. He seems to accept the fact of the transformation and never once asks how or why this metamorphosis happened. This lack of curiosity and questioning brings to question whether or not he was actually changed and if this is just a bad dream. As we learn more about Gregor's life before the metamorphosis, we realize that his old life was not very different from an insect. He led a boring life with no apparent real friends, and did everything he could in order to support his family. Apart from his sister, he is not very close with his family. As Gregor starts to get use to his new physical appearance, his mind starts to change, and we notice that he is slowly getting the frame of mind of an insect. Gregor starts to enjoy different food than he did when he was a human, he also is getting accustomed to dark places such as underneath the couch. He is starting to like crawling up the walls and ceilings. While observing these details, it would suggest that the physical lives seem to influence and directly shape the mental lives. He never stops being a human, that is until his mother and sister decide to take away all of his furniture in his room. Gregor, at first seems to like the idea as it will be physically more comfortable and easier for him to crawl on the walls. However he notices that his old furniture provided him with emotional comfort which is now gone. He realizes that he can either be physically comfortable or emotionally comfortable, but he can not be both. We then notice that Gregor never turned into a bug, he simply was one this whole time. This sudden realization puts him in a state of shock which eventually leads to his death. Every group of insect have workers that provide for the rest of the group. Gregor provides for his family the same way the insects provide for theirs. The real Gregor died when he started working just to support his family. When he first woke up at the beginning of the book he had been completely transformed, however the real transformation took place when his mind started to change.

Kafka p 35-45

Gregor is much more lonely than he was at the beginning. his family seem to not care at all about him anymore and he feels much more lonely than he ever was. They have turned their back on him even though he has worked so hard in order to pay off his parents' debts. He has an apple in his back which makes him feel a lot of pain. He almost does not feel human anymore.

Free reading

Although I have only read the preview, I look forward to reding more of it. The story is very intriguing.

Essay review

When I first arrived in America two years ago I could barely write a proper essay. My vocabulary would be limited and I would not be able to figure out how to make it seem more sophisticated.  My grammar mistakes would give my English teachers heart attacks. However throughout the time that I have spent here, my English has improved jutastically. At the beginning of this year I wrote an essay on pride prejudice which was not my best work and the grade show it. But I have managed to improve my language during the next few essay. I have made much less grammatical errors and my essays have been much more fluid. I will work on improving them in order for them to be at the top level.

Kafka p 35

Gregor starts showing more signs of being an insect and we witness his human nature slowly fading away. His mental strength is going down the drain as his father throws apple at him as if rejecting this monstrosity of a son. His mother and sister start to take away the objects and furnitures of his room which makes him feel more like an animal than anything else.

Kaftka p 25

Gregor is killing himself working hard in order to support his family. It's all he knows how to do. However it is evident that his family do not want to do anything with him.

English Essay conclusion

Marlow’s entire journey allows him to understand his inner darkness. By traveling into the mind and the thoughts that people do not dare to reach, people can understand who they are. The darkness is a part of our being. The Id unconsciously drives us to do things that we may not even realize. The unexplored wilderness of Africa has. It is there in the very heart of the darkness, Marlow confronts the very truth of his own being.

English essay par 3

Europe has all these restrictions that restrain one from unleashing his inner-self. Africa on the other hand has no restrictions whatsoever which means that it is not prohibited from doing anything. Africa represents the hidden part of our minds that we do not dare of showing. It represents the Id that we fight so hard to keep bottled up inside of us. Sigmund Freud once said that the mind is like an iceberg. The surface that is shown would be Europe and the part that is hidden under water which is not visible to us is Africa. Likewise, people express their best intentions while hiding their darker ones. Conrad’s world completely represents a metaphorical expression of the mind.

English essay par 2

Africa has always been a big and curious place. At the time of heart of darkness, Africa is still savage, wild, and unexplored. Marlow being a European explores it and is curious to see all of its potential. Africa did not have a lot of time to develop advanced societies. It does not have the luxury that Europe has. This lack of society leaves the entire continent with no restraint and self control. There are no apparent limitations what so ever and the only law that exists is the common sense of survival. No one knows how the entire land is, which is where Marlow’s curiosity comes into place. People are always curious about what they do not know or understand. In Heart of Darkness, Africa represents the part of the human mind that we do not dare to show or understand: “ They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces”. (Conrad 44) Marlow describes the visual aspects of what the people in Africa are like. If we did not have an ego to control us and refrain us we would most likely be doing the same actions.

English essay 1st par

Having an advanced society, Europe promotes the notion of self control. However, it was not always that way. Europe, like all other continents, used to be wild and savage. Early civilization burned people who expressed the slightest sign of either genius, magic, or miracles without any mercy whatsoever. Despite all these ruthless actions, Europe has managed to develop into a much more technologically and mentally advance continent. It’s society in its way has created many rules and regulations that limit wilder human actions because they consider them too extreme. All these limitations have prevented the human mind thinking about these extreme ideas again and the person from doing such action in the eyes of others. This is the reason why people refrain themselves from completely embarrassing themselves, from going crazy and throwing a computer across the room while screaming uncontrollably. It is the reason why Kurtz’s last word to his Fiancee was a lie: “ The last words he pronounced was- your name”.  (Conrad 93) That is the ego taking place and making sure to not hurt her. He makes sure to make her feel better because it is inappropriate to make her grieve more.

English essay intro

According to Sigmund Freud, our mind is divided in three parts: The id which is repressed, the super-ego that leads the mind, and the ego that manages all of it. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow's journey in Africa is a direct metaphor to a journey into the Id. Africa is known to be a wild and unrestrained continent. The time was set in the 19th century when Africa had barely been explored. This wild unexplored wilderness represents the part of the mind that people never want to cross or venture to, while the european continent represents the part of us that is expressed and shown to the world in other words the ego. Conrad’s curious journey into Africa is in fact a voyage that helps him find his inner-self. 

Socratic seminar analysis

The discussion was very intriguing. Numerous unusual topics were brought up and great answers came to light. The discussion were well regulated and kept their dynamics. I have a new insight for my next upcoming essay if we have one.

Heart of Darkness 9

As we start to know kurtz better, we notice that he is incredibly childish and breaks down when noticing someone observing him. When Kurtz dies, Marlow reveals how he saw Kurtz. He saw him as a man of great fortitude and that he owed him a lot.

Heart of Darkness 7

Later on we see that Kurtz is completely crazy probably due to the fact that he has been living alone for so long. Kurtz could be seen as a character full of darkness and wilderness.  

Heart of Darkness 6

As we go through Africa, we notice that marlow does not believe in the humanity of Africa. He has absolutely no idea in what to see in humanity. He sees everybody as savages.-Later in the story, we see a ambush by locals who are attacking the ship with no cause. We start to see men’s greed, and their desire for superiority. They discover some sort of ivory from an animal and decide to find more.

Heart of darkness 5

As we move deeper in the story we start to notice unconscious train of thoughts that are compared to Kurtz’s speeches. As we see dementia taking place in alot of the antogonists, we notice that it comes from the Id.

Heart of Darkness 4

As we go through Africa, we notice that marlow does not believe in the humanity of Africa. He has absolutely no idea in what to see in humanity. He sees everybody as savages.-Later in the story, we see a ambush by locals who are attacking the ship with no cause. We start to see men’s greed, and their desire for superiority. They discover some sort of ivory from an animal and decide to find more.

Heart of Darkness essay question

How do you prove Sigmund Freud's idea that the Id and Ego is directly partitioned into the Human mind and how does this theory relate to Joseph Conrad's idea.

Heart of darkness essay

Proving Freud'd theory that the human mind is partitioned into the Id and the Ego.

start of brainstorming

Joseph Conrad's heart of darkness describes exactly what happens wen europeans decide to force their countries on their countries. Heart of darkness has characters that are troubled and tough to inderstand. What murfin and karl talk about helps to understand their thoughts through psychoanalytical viewpoints .

How to bridge the gap

Students have always had a hard time in reading school books. They would rather read their own fantasy books or thriller that are not very inspirational. In my opinion, in order to break the gap, the best way is to start reading news. I don't mean yahoo news or some news about celebrities, political, mundane news that make you want to shoot yourself because it is so boring. Throughout time, it will become easier for the student to force him/herself to read assigned books. You need to build the right muscles in orr to have the stamina to resist the temptation of other distractions.

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud has a very cynical and dark persona. He believes that humanity is full of lust hatred and despair. Conrad uses a lot of Freud psycholigical theories which are very well shown in Heart of Darkness.

Heart of Darkness 3

The following parts of the story, seems to show how racist, cynical and inconsiderate Marlow is. He comments towards the African people in a demeanor fashion and seems to show a sort of superior complex by criticizing and snubbing everything in his surroundings.

Heart of Darkness 2

The story continues, and as predicted stays on a rather dark side. Several signs seems to orient to creepiness and foreshadows darkness and bad luck. For example the two women knitting will represent guards while monitoring who enters in the gates of darkness.

Heart of Darkness 1

The story opens with a dark, ominous, and sad tone which deeply depresses the reader. The writer talks about nations who were previously conquered and are now dominated by a different commander. The beginning gives a sense to the reader that the story will stay towards and dark and depressing side.