Example Student Midterm Discussion Papers
ENG 109, Spring 2003 - Short Cuts on
this web page:
Anonymous 1
K. R.:
Part 1 Enlightenment [Diderot,
Wollstonecraft, Jefferson, Equiano]; Part 2 Wuthering Heights
Keith R. Haney: Part 1: Characteristics of Flaubert's
Realism; Part 2: Literary Elements of Wuthering Heights
Mark Olsen: Concepts of Realism [Dostoevsky,
Flaubert, & Bronte]
Linked to ENG 109 Course Plan
Anonymous 1 K. R.:
Part I Enlightenment
[Diderot, Wollstonecraft, Jefferson, Equiano];
Part 2 Wuthering Heights
Part 1: Enlightenment [Diderot, Wollstonecraft, Jefferson, Equiano];
The Enlightenment period brought about many new ideas. The axiom of the Enlightenment was reason. The philosophes believed that reason and logic should rule men, instead of assumptions. They “brought to eighteenth-century France a spirit of critical inquiry based on reason and experiment” (Davis 379). By building everything on the rational you were better able to construct authentic and, hopefully, objective concepts. Reason was the foundation and the struggle for equality was the direct result.
The rise of the “middle class” throughout the European Enlightenment had a lasting effect on the cultural beliefs of the time. Literacy increased and as more people were now able to read and afford books more people started writing. Many authors of the enlightenment came from the rising middle class and were now trying to push their way into the respected classes. One of the main ideas that many enlightenment writers focused on was equality. They were developing a new philosophy on the relationships between people of different socio-economic backgrounds. The “enlightened” thinkers disregarded the nobility’s rule as aberrant and inhumane. They were dissatisfied with the arrogance and ethnocentric views of the leaders of the time. They wanted to stand up and be counted, to have representation in a society that told them they could never attain great economic and social wealth in life because they were not of proper birth. All of the authors we read were rebelling against the status quo in order for others to have the opportunity to develop their own ideas of their place in the world.
In the Supplement to the Voyage of Bougainville Diderot asserts that western civilization is not necessarily more reasonable than the Tahitian culture, or any other for that matter. Through Diderot’s character of the chief he shows the ignorance and irrationality of the “civilized” Europeans. In the following quote we see the chief’s challenge to the irrational belief of the Europeans right to land. “‘This country is ours.’ This country yours? And why? Because you have walked thereon? If a Tahitian landed one day on your shores, and scratched on one of your rocks or on the bark of your trees: ‘This country belongs to the people of Tahiti’ – what would you think?”(Davis 386) The old man confronts not only the inequality of Bougainville’s precepts but also the rationale behind them. “You are not a slave; you would suffer death rather than be one; yet you want to enslave us.”(Davis 386) This final quote directly questions the Europeans use of ration and logic. “We respect our own likeness in you.” (Davis 386) How can they deny something that is so obvious?
Diderot shows the contrast between the European society that was supposedly civilized and the Tahitian society where sexual freedom was the norm and violence was unheard of. “[The Tahitians] would much rather take Aotourou for a liar, than believe us to be so mad.”(Davis 385) Diderot criticizes the Europeans view of themselves as the most developed society. “If you persuade us to exceed the narrow limits of our wants, when shall we ever finish toiling? When shall we enjoy ourselves?” “We do not want to barter what you call our ignorance for your useless civilization.”(Davis 386) He illustrates that, despite the great wealth and technology that the Europeans had developed, they lacked compassion regarding anyone they saw as lesser, which was just about anyone, and the blatant cruelty towards others. “… [W]hat right have you over him that he has not over you?”(Davis 386) Diderot establishes the concept that different does not necessarily mean lesser. Equality is not only for the wealthy, the civilized or the proper. All people have the undeniable right to be respected and acknowledged.
Mary Wollstonecraft despised the treatment of women in European society. “…[Women] are treated as a kind of subordinate beings, and not as a part of the human species.”(Davis 526) Through men’s ability to subjugate women, making them only objects of beauty and frivolity, the cycle of men’s tyranny and women’s inferiority continues. “It is acknowledged that they spend many of the first years of their lives in acquiring a smattering of accomplishments; meanwhile strength of body and mind are sacrificed to libertine notions of beauty, to the desire of establishing themselves …, by marriage.”(528) Wollstonecraft believed that the roles of women were created by a society that was unwilling to allow them the opportunity to develop their minds and that was the true reason most women were unintelligent. “…[I]f it be against the imitation of manly virtues, … the attainment of those talents and virtues, …which ennobles the human character, …all …must, I should think, wish with me that they may every day grow more and more masculine.” She believed women given the opportunity could succeed just as a man could.
Thomas Jefferson used a succinctly logical argument for why the colonies should no longer be under British rule in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, … with certain unalienable rights, … Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Rights of the People to alter or to abolish it, …”(Davis 522-523) All of this comes down to one point: if the government is no longer serving the people it is unreasonable for the people to follow the government and further it is reasonable and logical for the people to take governing of themselves into their own hands.
Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography was revolutionary. He showed the society of the time how misconstrued their cultural beliefs had become and how irrational their actions were regarding other human beings. He contemplates the white’s treatment of their slaves and the senselessness of mistreating slaves who could be more productive if they were treated well and fed and clothed properly. He points out that some slave owners were able to realize that there was a better way to treat slaves, even though it is not as accepting as those of his native Africa. (Davis 484) Equiano’s struggle for freedom and acceptance is inspirational. Through his writings he disproved many of the beliefs of the time.
The Enlightenment was about challenging the status quo to allow for more dialogue between people. Many more people were able to contribute to society when they were seen as equals and not as lesser beings because of their race, gender or economic background. The individual contributions of these writers is exemplary, but the combined writings produced a new understanding of the world and all people’s place in it. All of them were displaying the absurdity of the current concepts of society. True reason and equality can never be separated because no matter how many justifications one creates for inequality they can never combat each person’s right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Part 2
Many of the characters in Wuthering Heights are unattractive throughout much of the story, the most unattractive and frightening being Heathcliff. Heathcliff’s character is the most interesting and complex. He allows the injury done to him by Catherine Earnshaw to shape the rest of his life. He becomes the personification of evil and all the other characters become the pawns of his revenge plots after his return. However, we do see that there is a limit to his destruction. His relationship with Hareton is the only promising one we see after Catherine Earnshaw’s death and when we least expect it we see his heart.
Heathcliff makes a conscious decision, though not a rational one, to allow Catherine’s rejection of him as a suitor influence and in many ways control the rest of his life. He actively plans and puts into action revenge plots against everyone involved and associated with the Earnshaws and Lintons. His decision affects not only those living at the time of his rejection, but also the next generation.
After Heathcliff’s return, there is no longer anything holding him back from destroying the lives of all those around him. Heathcliff loans money to Hindley knowing full well he will never be able to repay it (Davis 783). He marries Isabella, not out of love, but as a way to take revenge on Edgar Linton. “… He wishes to provoke Edgar to desperation: he says he has married me on purpose to obtain power over him;”(Davis 764). His destruction is all encompassing; no person is free from his tyranny. “I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death;” (Davis 775) “Now, my bonny lad, you are mine! And we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!”(Davis 783) He forces Catherine Linton to marry his son Linton Heathcliff so that he may obtain land and in the hopes of making another generation of Lintons miserable. There is no purpose to his erratic behavior except to make everyone suffer for something they were not able to control.
It seems, just when Brönte makes Heathcliff the most vile, she shows that he has some redeemable emotional response. For example when Hareton and Cathy Heathcliff have pulled up Joseph’s currants, Cathy yells at Heathcliff and he grabs her, yet he releases her. He could have very easily hurt her horribly, yet something held him back (Davis 855). Did he see Cathy in her eyes or was it as some sort of favor to Hareton? The truth is Brönte leaves this up to us to decide. Either way, Heathcliff is shown as a man with tolerance and compassion. There is hope for him; somehow he may find his way out of the hell he has placed himself in.
Heathcliff’s relationship with Hareton Earnshaw is one of the most interesting of the story. Heathcliff hated Hindley Earnshaw, yet somehow Heathcliff and Hareton develop a loving relationship. Heathcliff treats Hareton as Hindley treated him, forcing Hareton to manual labor and denying him an education, yet Hareton sees Heathcliff as his savior. “Hareton is damnably fond of me! … the one friend he has in the world.” (Davis 801) Heathcliff sees not only himself in Hareton but also Catherine Earnshaw (857). Hareton becomes his creation and his legacy. Through Heathcliff’s relationship with Hareton, we see he is capable of loving someone and invoking love in them in return. Heathcliff relies on this relationship to prove to himself that he is not hopeless and damned.
Bronte leaves Heathcliff’s mind so ambiguous you never stop guessing at his motives, which may be the reason we are so drawn to him. We are unable to determine how and why he does the things he does, good or bad. Heathcliff’s character is never fully resolved and you cannot hate him completely because of all the injustices he has suffered. The characters in Wuthering Heights seem to allow events to affect them more deeply than we would probably allow. Brönte allows these extremes so that we may better identify these emotions within ourselves and believe that we are all capable of salvation.
© 2003, Held by Student Author
K. R.
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Keith R. Haney
English 109 - Prof. C. Agatucci
Midterm Discussion Paper
8 May 2003
Part One: Characteristics of Flaubert’s Realism
Authors who strive to write in a realistic manner are detail-oriented and conscious of including ordinary people as protagonists and/or antagonists. No one epitomizes the successful accomplishment of these goals like Gustave Flaubert. Flaubert believed that an author could portray the real world in such a way that the reader would experience the tale without even thinking about the narrator. He felt that each detail that he could supply would help make the story better. “The important thing was to choose le seul mot juste, the one right word.” (Davis 1017) In his choice of Felicite to be the heroine of A Simple Heart, Flaubert used the life of an ordinary individual to express a powerful message about innocence and life.
The level of detail that Flaubert provided in A Simple Heart is almost overwhelming. He was careful to mention even minute and seemingly innocuous items, but this effort makes a reader of the tale “feel” the setting. In this work, Flaubert uses descriptive phrases and words at every turn. When he describes the sea in the coastal area that the family retreats to, he gives us, “It glittered in the sunshine, smooth as a mirror and so quiet that its murmur was scarcely to be heard; sparrows chirped in hiding and the immense sky arched over it all.” (Davis 1024) In fact, his descriptions of the area are almost enough to stimulate the smell of salt air and a warm feeling on one’s neck.
As the story of Felicite’s life unfolds, Flaubert continues to display her world in such detail that each moment is full of sensory experience. When she begins to spend time with her nephew, Victor, she dotes on him as she has on the Madame’s children. Felicite is not capable of doing anything half way and it shows in her routine with Victor; “At the first stroke of vespers she woke him up, brushed his trousers, fastened his tie, and went to the church, leaning on his arm with maternal pride.” (Davis 1026) Here again, Flaubert has given us a scene so clearly stated that we see them walking up the steps to the sanctuary. When Victor sails away on his grand adventure, she misses him and finds him present in everything she experiences, “As she listened to the wind growling in the chimney or carrying off the slates she pictured him lashed by that same tempest, at the top of a shattered mast, with his body thrown backwards under a sheet of foam; ...” (Davis 1027)
The heroine in this story is Felicite, who is a servant for her mistress Madame Aubain. A Simple Heart follows the life of Felicite from the time she comes to work for her mistress until Felicite’s death. By using a heroine who is of a common nature, Flaubert has a view from which to tell the story that allows him to include a wide range of characters. Felicite is not just any servant however; she is the best, “...and as for cleanness, the polish on her saucepans was the despair of other servants.” (Davis 1020) She cleans the house and cares for the Madame’s children and through it all she always looks at life with wonder. Felicite is loyal to her mistress, but also loyal to anyone upon whom she showers her love. Her nephew Victor is one of these people.
Victor becomes Felicite’s focus after Virginie goes away to school. She feels the need to fill her time with the company of someone and Victor is available. He is also a member of the lower class whose parents have him taking advantage of his aunt on each visit. “...it might be, a cake of soap, spirits, or even money at times.” (Davis 1026) Victor becomes a seaman and dies while he is away in the Americas. Even his death reflects something of his status as a commoner. Felicite hears from the ship’s captain that, “They had bled him too much at the hospital for yellow fever. Four doctors held him at once. He had died instantly, and the chief had said: ‘Bah, there goes another’” (Davis 1029)
Felicite also had a relationship with a shopkeeper named Mere Simon. As she became less able to care for her surroundings and more feeble, Mere Simon would come by and chop wood and draw water for her. This is another case of Flaubert letting the reader hear from levels of society not usually represented in literature. In her final days, it is Mere Simon who tends her and tries to ease her suffering. It is this woman, who loves Felicite for her innocence, who brings Loulou the parrot to her for the last time, “A little later she took Loulou and brought him close to Felicite with the words: ‘Come, now, say good-bye to him!’” (Davis 1037) This circle of caring and relationship would never have been included in novels of an earlier era.
Gustave Flaubert worked very hard at his craft. He is representative of a list of authors who were intent upon “telling it like it was”. In their estimation, it was mandatory that a writer be clear and accurate in the portrayal of the world. The “real” world was a thing that the author had to explain in detail and it wasn’t going to qualify as “real” without a focus on everyday people; people who were not wealthy or coddled.
Part Two: Literary Elements in Wuthering Heights
When Emily Bronte wrote Wuthering Heights, she brought to life an incredible world in which passions run hot and people try to find anything they can to hold on to. The story of Wuthering Heights is full of references to the supernatural and tales of the conflict created by Heathcliff. These elements of the story are woven like threads throughout the text. Whenever a new person is introduced, Heathcliff becomes involved in some way. He seems to be set on running everything about this world and controlling the lives of all that surround him.
Bronte allows us to hear this tale as told by two individuals, Mr. Lockwood and Nelly Dean. When Mr. Lockwood arrives at Thrushcross Grange, he is there as a tenant on one of Heathcliff’s properties. He visits his landlord at his home and ends up spending the night. He has been treated badly by the residents of the Heights, including Heathcliff, and he is shown to a room after it has been decided that the weather will not allow him to travel back to his residence. He finds that the room contains a strange sort of closet, which will be his bed for the evening. He sees the names of Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Linton, and Catherine Heathcliff scattered throughout some books that are present. He finally falls asleep, albeit in an uncomfortable manner, and is visited by a frightful specter, “Catherine Linton,” it replied, shiveringly....”I’m come home, I’d lost my way on the moor!” (Davis 695)
With this disturbing visitation, Catherine’s ghost introduces us to the “haunting” of the Heights. Lockwood is terrified and screams, but he is even more troubled by the reaction of his host. When Heathcliff discovers that he has been given this room, he questions him as to the appearance of the spirit. After Lockwood leaves the room, he overhears Heathcliff crying out and sobbing, “Come in! Come in! Cathy do come. Oh do – once more! Oh! My heart’s darling, hear me this time – Catherine, at last!” (Davis 697) It is only later that Mr. Lockwood hears the whole story from Nelly, but this first experience sets the stage for much of his discovery of the past.
The thread of spirit presence is completed after Heathcliff has died. He has sought to connect with Catherine throughout his life, but has always felt that her spirit is conspiring to punish him. He is torn between his desire to behold her and his desire to ruin everyone who he believes has harmed him. Finally, after Heathcliff’s death, Lockwood is walking toward Thrushcross Grange when he comes across a small boy trying to herd sheep. The sheep, especially the lambs, are skittish and will not move for him. When Lockwood inquires about the situation, the young boy cries and says, “They’s Heathcliff and a woman, yonder, under t’ Nab, un’ Aw darnut pass ‘em.” (Davis 864)
An even more common thread in this novel is Heathcliff’s conflict with everyone and everything around him. Heathcliff loves Catherine, and when he realizes that he cannot have her, he decides to spoil everything for everyone. He makes his mental list of everyone who has harmed him, and it includes all the residents of both the Heights and Thrushcross Grange, as well as any of their children. His first hatred is for his stepbrother Hindley. It is Hindley whom he ruins first, by taking advantage of his bad habits, to control the estate. His condition is finally so bad that when Heathcliff’s new wife returns to the Heights her first meeting with Hindley is bizarre. “It’s well the hellish villain has kept his word!” (Davis 757)
Catherine’s choice of Edgar as her mate is the catalyst for many of Heathcliff’s rages, but his attempts to break Edgar meet with less success. Heathcliff is able to drive a wedge between Catherine and Edgar by constantly intruding, and he seems to take great pride in this endeavor. When Edgar comes to find Catherine entertaining Heathcliff, one too many times, he offers an ultimatum and is shocked to hear his wife say, “Cheer up, you shan’t be hurt! Your type is not a lamb, it’s a sucking leveret” (Davis 744). The fact that she never sends Heathcliff away does finally ruin whatever chance there was for happiness, and the entire crew just lives on in absolute misery.
This novel contains many plot twists and turns, but ultimately it is the story of two people who were never able to come to grips with their love. The treatment of Heathcliff, because of his lineage, sets up a hatred that is finally unleashed when he is rejected by his only love. Ironically, it is Catherine who does the final injustice when she chooses Edgar, not out of love, but because; “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him; and that, not because he’s handsome, Nelly, but because he’s more myself than I am” (Davis 725). That is really the story of Wuthering Heights; that the vanity and greed of life overcome the spirit that draws them together. The characters of this novel are drawn to each other and they repel each other. The conflict in both mind and soul runs through everything, but ultimately passion alone cannot save them from each other.
© 2003,
Keith R. Haney
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Mark Olsen
English 109 - Prof. C. Agatucci
Midterm Discussion Paper
8 May 2003
Concepts of Realism
Realistic literature came about as people became disenchanted with the concept of idealism. As the populace moved to the city, it became difficult for people to find jobs and a majority of these people became poor and hungry. Since life was becoming so bleak, it became extremely difficult to have faith; "God is dead," (Nietzsche 544). When looking at Realism, two concepts can definitely be considered imperative to the style of this period: that it is okay to question religion and that life is not always beautiful or exciting. These two ideas show us how it became increasingly difficult to believe in ideals and the much more truthful idea of Realism could be imbibed by society.
A core belief of the Romantic period was the belief that after all of the hardships one could experience in life, a paradise awaited in Heaven. This concept, however, began to evaporate as more and more people began to receive an education and the want to understand became a staple. As the people started thinking outside of the lines, the idea of a perfect Heaven began to fade into what was actually happening and the populace realized life was difficult, "[a]nd the very people who have today kissed Thy feet, tomorrow at the faintest sign from me will rush to heap up the embers of Thy fire. Knowest Thou that?" (Dostoevsky 1044). What this shows us is that while the people were awed by the majesty of their Lord, with the right motivation He could just as easily be forgotten. The people were happier to have a God and practice their own version of His religion, rather than have him overseeing them: "I too prized the freedom with which Thou hast blessed men, and I too was striving to stand among Thy elect, among the strong and the powerful, thirsting 'to make up the number.' But I awakened and would not serve madness. I turned back and joined the ranks of those who have corrected Thy work" (Dostoevsky 1051).
Another leap in the movement into Realism was an almost bitter take on the religions of the time. The writers spoke with a sort of jaded tone and made their faith into a farce: "and when she sighed her last breath she thought she saw an opening in the heavens, and a gigantic parrot hovering above her head" (Flaubert 1038). Here in “A Simple Heart” Flaubert's character is seeing her God, which she has chosen to be a parrot. In other words, God no longer represents an awe inspiring deity but instead can be whatever you want him to be. This concept seems to bring with it the idea that God should have a sense of humor, since he has made our life this way, "with his purple wings and emerald body he was the very image of Loulou" (Flaubert 1035).
Stepping away from religion, we can also see how authors writing in the Realistic period began to describe surroundings and people with a more clinical attitude. Again, this points to the want for society to move away from ideal life and into actual life: "[i]ts courtyard is on a slope, with the farmhouse in the middle, and the sea looks like a grey streak in the distance," (Flaubert 1022). It is interesting to see this concept move into the descriptions that authors would give to people, as if people themselves were just other objects: "[t]he farm, like them, had the stamp of antiquity" (Flaubert 1023). This objectification of the human animal made it easier for people to fit into a caste system to the point of absurdity. The poor are not even of notice when they die: "[o]h! your nephew! A scamp of a cabin boy-what does he matter? ... whereas my daughter... why, just think!" (Flaubert 1028).
As people became objects, so did their emotions and as authors sought to write in a more realistic tone, emotions (like love) became more tangible, definable ideas: "[a]nd yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often she had not. What did it matter!" (Chopin 1153). Coincidentally, when emotions became definable, one could now take them and put them into a sort of order of priority. This can easily be shown through Chopin's “The Story of an Hour” in which the heroine is more concerned with her freedom (perhaps rightly so) than by the death of her husband: "[f]ree! Body and soul free!' she kept whispering'" (Chopin 1153). This idea that emotions were completely orderable and not raging, unfettered things was the complete opposite from say, Wuthering Heights, in which it was all the characters could do not to die from their emotions.
Stepping back, for a moment, into the world of Romanticism the story Wuthering Heights, can be thought of as one of the most epic romantic novels ever and at the same time a stepping point for Realism. In reading Wuthering Heights, one key point stands out of the story and really defines Romanticism while at the same time making the characters real. This idea is that the characters are constantly operating on extreme poles of emotion and in fact only seem to react when provoked to these emotional extremes. Though these extremes are somewhat exaggerated, we can see the effects of Romanticism as it bleeds into Realism by studying how the characters in the story could be alive, while at the same time were always in horrid states due to their complete reliance on romance and emotion. The three characters, which are almost bland until their emotions kick in and drive them to extreme levels of wretchedness, are Catherine, Heathcliff and Hindley.
The first example in our parade of sobbing romantics is the character of Catherine. One could argue that her abandoning Heathcliff (and in doing so going against her own heart for a life of luxury) is the core conflict and cause to every effect in the story: "I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton than I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now..." (Bronte 725). In this passage we can clearly see that Catherine is torn between marrying the man she loves and the man with a good station in life. In other words, her romantic self (the one who loves Heathcliff) has lost out to her real self (who wants to be the powerful wife of Edgar) and this conflict ultimately drives Heathcliff to his extreme revenge which is the downfall of almost all of the characters. This huge amount of emotion is shown to be the cause of her "fevers" and in the end actually kills her: "[h]ere and here!' replied Catherine, striking one hand on her forehead, and the other on her breast" (Bronte 724).
Perhaps the most important character when looking at how emotion drives the motives in Wuthering Heights, is our simultaneous protagonist and antagonist Heathcliff. If we look at his progression in the story, his reliance on emotions such as love, hatred and jealously are what drives him to become the destroyer of almost all life in the novel: "I meditated this plan: just to have one glimpse of your face, a stare of surprise, perhaps, and pretended pleasure; afterwards settle my score with Hindley; and then prevent the law by doing execution on myself" (Bronte 734). Heathcliff is such a hopeless romantic that the woman he loves drives him to a sort of bitter madness, and all of the ill turns he has received throughout the novel become what his character is about. He is revenge: "[t]hat is not the plan. The tyrant grinds down the slaves and they don't turn against him, they crush those beneath them, " (734).
Our final wonderful example of the bleeding hearts in Romantic literature and examples of how emotion drives the action in Wuthering Heights, is the character of Hindley. The first emotion we see from him is a jealousy of Heathcliff and this drives him to huge levels of cruel action: "[t]ake my colt, gipsy, then!' said young Earnshaw. 'And I pray that he may break your neck; take him, and be damned, you beggarly interloper! and wheedle my father out of all he has, only afterwards show him what you are, imp of Satan--And take that, I hope he'll kick out your brains!" (703). As Hindley progresses and first his wife is taken from him (which leads to his drinking) and then his son (because of his drinking), we can see that his character never moves out of the ideas of Romanticism: "[i]t is a pity he cannot kill himself with drink" (722). In this, we see his emotions (or lack thereof) driving the character of Hindley... a man who seeks revenge on Heathcliff for stealing (what he feels) is the love of his family, hates God for the loss of his wife, which makes it hard for him to relate to his son.
In conclusion, in looking at Romantic novels such as Wuthering Heights, we can clearly see why society would move into the writing style of Realism. Though the characters in romantic novels can show us the extremes of our emotions, the levels to which they take these extremes to can sometimes make them unbelievable and ultimately leaves the reader wanting more. In looking at Wuthering Heights, we can see this problem in effect as the characters’ only motivation seems to be their reliance on their supremely huge emotions which drives them to make choices detrimental to their lives. Realism showed the populace that these ideals and reliance on emotion was ultimately a farce on the human condition (though an entertaining one) and never gave any kind of closer when one was trying to understand what it meant to be alive.
© 2003, Mark Olsen
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