Mid-term Review: “Johnny Got His Gun” 2007 AP Prompt 2 Sample Essays

Overview and Directions:  Please read through the following essays in small groups.  Next, grade the essays according to the rubric.  How does it compare with your work?  What does all the 4 essays have in common?  What makes an essay a 5?  How does it become a 6?  What are the qualities of good writing?  Beyond the prompt, what are we hoping to achieve with this exercise?


Sample NN

This passage from "Johnny Got His Gun," by Dalton Trumbo analyzes the relationship between young Joe and his father. The two of them had been fishing together for years, but this year Joe wanted to go fishing with his friend. Through third person point of view, careful selection of detail, and simple sentences Trumbo characterizes the deep but changing relationship of the father and son.

By telling the story from a third person point of view, Trumbo provides the reader with a more universal view of the father-son relationship. Readers are able to see the feelings of both father and son.

The phrases "For a little while his father didn't say a thing" and "I'm tired and I think I'll rest all day" show how saddened the father was by his son's actions. However, he felt so deeply for his son that he said, "so you use my and let Bill use yours." Thankfully, the love the father felt for his son was always shared by the son for his father. "He felt a little lump in his throat as the thought that even as deserting his father for Bill Harper his father had volunteered the rod." Because the passage is told from a third person viewpoint, we are able to see that they loved each other and wanted to continue fishing together; sadly, things can't stay the same forever.

Trumbo constructed this passage very carefully in order to show the changing dynamics of the father-son relationship. By starting the passage off with peaceful visuals of camping and fishing, Dalton gives the reader an idea of the joy that the father and son received from each other. The line "sitting across from him and staring into the fire was his father" furthers the notion that the son looked up to the father and enjoyed being with him. However, as the passage progresses an outsider, Bill Harper, enters the story. Although the son still loves his father, he feels a greater desire to be with his friend. Also Trumbo shows the love the father has for his son by telling how he is willing to let his son use his greatest possession. Lastly, the image of the son sneaking away "without awakening his father" provides the reader with an image of a son being pulled in different directions, and a father who will awaken to a long and lonely day.

Through the use of simple syntax, Trumbo further characterizes the relationship of the father and son while also serving to reinforce the peaceful and related imagery of the poem, the simple syntax has the effect of showing the reader how much of an impact a small action can have on a relationship. Although the father and son will always love each other, it will never be the same between them again. The son's simple action to go off with Bill Harper has forever changed their relationship. Other fishing trips will come, but the father will always be wondering if his son wants to be there with him or if he'd rather go fishing with Bill Harper.

Many little boys view their father as the greatest man in the world. Unfortunately, as they age, they begin to see his flaws; they desire to instead, hang around with kids their age. We need to remember that although relationships change, we should always stay close to those who have always been there for us.


Sample TT

During the maturing of a young male there is always a moment where one parts from his father only to learn that he is more like his father than he would like to let on. This convention is a staple of many works concerning the father and sun relationships and Johnny Got His Gun is no exception. Dalton Trumbo uses a third person point of view, detailed descriptions, and syntax that implies similarities to characterize the close relationship between a Youngman and his father.

Throughout the passage the author uses a third person point of view to show the relationship between the boy and his father. The author uses pronouns such as they, he, and him to focus on the relationship between two males. While proper nouns would focus more on the characters the use of pronouns makes the reader focus more on the relationship between the characters and not the characters. The lack of dialogue also makes the reader focus more on what is being said compared to who is saying it. That skillful use of point-of-view, pronouns, and lack of dialogue all make the reader focus on the relationship between the character and not the characters themselves.

Perhaps the most significant point in the story comes when the father offers his rod to his son. This is significant because the rod is “the only extravagance his father had in his own life”. The author goes into detail about the rod and the lengths that the father goes to maintain the quality of the rod. The significance of the father lending his son his rod cannot be understood because “there was nothing his father treasured more”. The author uses detail when describing the rod to accent the significance of the father lending his son his rod.

Trumbo masterfully describes the relationship between the boy and his father. Trumbo uses long sentences to raise the tension before the boy asks his father about fishing with Bill Harper. The Youngman fishing with someone else does represent “the end of something” but at the same time it is also a beginning. By taking his father’s rod and teaching Bill Harper all that Joe knows about fishing Joe is assuming the role of his father and teaching someone else the ways and techniques of fishing that he had learned from his father. Joe shows growth and maturity by assuming the role of an adult and teaching someone else all that he knows. The fact that Joe has become an adult due to what his father has taught him speaks strongly of the relationship between Joe and his father.

While the father-son coming of age story has become a cliche of literature Dalton Trumbo manages to breathe new life into the story through skillful use of point of view, selection of detail, and syntax.

Sample YY

The best art creates not a judgement or an intellectual movement but instead creates a feeling, an emotion. In this way, the excerpt from Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun is true art, as it uses point of view and description to explore a beautiful father/son relationship, as the son comes of age.

In many ways, the narrative voice of this excerpt has a stunning impact. The third narrator has limited omnipotence, allowing us into Johnny’s thoughts, but not those of his father. This access to the son’s thought process and the overall descriptive voice gives the reader a sense of informality and intimacy with the characters. All dialogue is also stated without the use of quotation marks, breaking the walls of structure to give an added sense of fluidity. From this, the reader gains insight into both what is said and unsaid by the boy and his father, allowing the reader to understand the depth of their relationship.

The narrator is also skilled in revealing specific details that add greatly to the meaning of the story. The first paragraph describes “an enormous pine tree” and other seemingly insignificant details of the campsite. These details, however, are not at all insignificant. They reflect the connection of this boy to his surroundings. They reflect the boy’s vivid memory of each past trip, and how the subtle differences of this trip will remind him of the change Ð the time when his relationship with his father in which they became both seperate and stronger.

The beauty of the writing in Trumbo’s excerpt is most powerful because it vividly reflects the human mind. The speaker, dialogue and details are woven in such a way that the reader feels like Johnny, appreciates the campsite and understands the depth of this father/son relationship. As a result, the reader can feel; as a result the reader can witness art.


Sample C

The relationship between a father and son, although shaky at times, represents a solid rock for the son to lean against. Trumbo further illustrates this bond in the passage from “Johnny Got His Gun.” The passage is written in third person causing emotional language to be left out and a more objective point of view to be presented. The author recognizes seemingly mundane details in order to create an atmosphere that only a father-son trip can achieve.

Throughout the passage the reader is left to interpret exactly what Trumbo intends to convey. Emotions are not written into the story but the reader can infer from the thoughts and actions of both the father and son that their limited time together is held sacred. The son’s desire to fish with one of his friends is “a very serious thing.” (16) He is no longer a young boy eager to learn from his father but instead he wishes to spend time with Bill Harper, someone who “doesn’t know very much about fishing” (31-32). The needs of the son change with time and his desire to fish with Bill is “an ending” to youth and dependence on parents” provision. The son is at a new “beginning” and stepping into his role as equals with other adults.

The emotions of the father are omitted from the passage but his love for his son is clear. Rather than responding with anger at his son’s request to fish without him, he offers his valuable fishing rod to assist them. The father demonstrates his self-sacrificing love for his son by offering his “only extravagance,” despite the fact that it could be ruined. With the option of using his father’s rod, the son recognizes the father’s sacrifice. The “man in Colorado Springs” who year after year repairs the rod is a testament to father’s love of the rod itself. The son, Joe, believes “there is nothing his father treasures more.” He, however, does not understand that this is not true. His father gives his prized possession to the one he loves even more.

Trumbo’s inclusion of small details also adds substance to the passage. The detail’s such as the “roar of water” at night and the “enormous pine,” appeal to the reader’s emotions. Perhaps they remind the reader of their camping trips or past vacations. The scenery details brings the reader to a place where they can associate their experience with the father or son.

Trumbo shows in the passage that the relationship between a father and son is a strong bond. Actions speak louder than words and it is inferred that Joe’s father has a deep and endearing love for his son. Their experiences on the camping trips bring them common experiences that they can treasure more than any “valuable” fishing rod.


Sample V

In the selection from Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo, shows a boy shift from doing everything with his father, to becoming his own person. This selection is in third person, as if someone was reflecting on it. In third person the reader is able to understand the emotions going through both characters. At first we see how the son wants to spare his father’s feelings about leaving him. In the fifth paragraph we see the father’s understanding & he lets his son go. This shows growth between the characters as the boy grows up & the father lets him go.

Trumbo uses complete, concrete sentences in his writing. This he uses to tell a full circle story on the father & son. They would come “each summer to this place. (6)” & repeat the same activities each year. Once the boy turned 15, he wanted “go out with Billy Harper (30).” This shows the son wanting to do things with out his father. Finally the father agrees to let the son go, & gave his son his special rod. At this point the father is letting go of his son, & comming full circle.

The attention to detail is so important in this passage. It allows the reader to understand the relationship between the characters better. Instead of saying “each summer they came to this place (6),” Trumbo could of said they went camping. If that happened the reader would not have understood the special meaning the camping site had. The way Trumbo uses detail to show important things are enhances the story. With out that detail, we would not know how the father & son complete the ritual camping trip. Every year they go to the same place to camp, go fishing, & use the same rods. When the father relinquished his rod to his son, the reader understands what a step this is. If it was an important rod it would not matter as much. From the description of all the work that goes into it, the reader can see how big this is. The father is giving his son his prized possetion. This shows how much trust the father has developed in his son. The father & son have grown from doing everything together, to do things seperate.

Sample G

In Dalton Trumbos “Johnny got His Gun,” a very simple yet complex scene is created between the father and son. Trumbo uses simple syntax, exquisite detail and a third person point of view to illustrate a son maturing and stepping away in front of the father.

The syntax Trumbos uses is very simple. The sentences are straightforward, as they provide insight into the father and son’s relationship. The simple syntax reflects the seemingly simple task of telling the father, as well as the clear, distinct element of the nature that surrounds them. Although it may seem simple to tell his father that he was going fishing, the syntax also portrays the boy with the internal conflict. Repetition is provided as the boy constantly battles over “how he should tell” his father. This shows the boys concern for his father and how he doesn’t want to hurt him. The syntax and repetition help illustrate a maturing boy who is dealing with an decision independent of his father. The idea of growing up is brought into play, as the boy will now have to do things on his own without his father being there.

A child stepping out and seeing the world for themselves is a main idea Trumbo portrays. Through his third person point of view, he makes the relationship more personal. The boy is referred to as “he” and the dad “father.” The ambiguity of their titles help make Trumbo’s point of view universal. Every child, whether he is going fishing on his own or just stepping out to see the world must separate themselves from their parents. The same goes for the father, as he knows the time has come to accept his son’s maturation. The third person narration and universal point of view also help to highlight the father’s acceptance. ”For a while his father didn’t say a thing. Then he said why sure.”

The details Trumbo provides also help reinforce his point of view. He gives the boys age, 15. The boy is a point in his life where he is going to be more independent. While he needed his father when he was seven, he can now handle fishing on his own. The rod is highly detailed, as the details serve to show the importance of the item. The father is passing it on to a son, who he trusts with his rod and feels that he can handle it now. This downs a strong bond between the father and son. The immense detail helps illustrate how much the father must love his son to let him go off with a prized possession. ”There was nothing his father treasured more.” The final bit of detail is the fact that the boy didn’t awake his father before he left. The rod was a symbol of acceptance, and knowing his boy was maturing, his father passed it down. The gesture marks a rite of passage, and the boy know there’s not need to awake the father.

Trumbo creates a strong bond between the young man and his father. Through his syntax, third person point of view and detail that helps illuminate the boys rite of passage, Trumbo creates an accepting father who is allowing his son to see the world with his rod at hand.


Sample S

This excerpt from Dalton Trumbo’s novel Johnny Got His Gun serves to portray the powerful bond between father and son. Trumbo uses the character’s point of view, selection of detail, and word choice, to portray the relationship between father and son.

”They had been coming to this place ever since he was seven. How he was fifteen and Bill Harper was coming tomorrow.” This shows the clash of loyalties in his own head. Wheather to stand fast and uphold a treasured tradition, or to sate his desire for the companionship of a friend. The son’s point of view is portrayed as a rebellious son who merely wishes to escape his father’s shadow.

Trumbo’s close choice of words in the beginning of the excerpt and at the end, serve to forbode a climax. ”The campfire was built in front of a tent and the tent was under and enormous pine. When you slept inside the tent it seemed always raining outside” this allusion to rain, raised the idea that there may be some conflict later on in the peice. ”At six o’clock Bill Harper whispered to him through the tent flap. He got up and gave Bill his rod and took his father’s for himself, and they went off without awakening his father” these final lines show the winner of the climax. The son did not even wake his father before walking off with his father’s most prized possesion.

Trumbo’s close attention to detail when describing the father’s fishing rod serves to heighten the fear and apprehension we perceve to be evident in the son. ”It was perhaps the only extravagance his father had in his whole life. It had amber leaders and beautiful silk windings.” Serves to show how much his father’s rod ment to the son, and the devestating effect it must have had on the father when the son walked away.


Sample EEE

A young man and his father go camping every summer, preferring each other’s company to that of friends their own age. until one summer, it changes suddenly. In this excerpt from Dalton Trumbo’s novel Johnny Got His Gun, Joe, a young man, comes of age. Through devices like symbolism, point of view, carefully described details, and unusual syntax, Trumbo creates a vivid sense of the relationship between Joe and his father.

The passage describes a father-son ritual in which the two of them retreat to a mountain and fish together, camping out “under an enormous pine.” (2) They bond through shared experiences, the key one of which is fishing. In eight years, Joe has never wanted to fish with anyone other than his father, but at the age of 15, he wants “to go fishing with [Bill Harper].” (line 24). The fishing trip is a symbol for the close relationship Joe has to his father. As he goes fishing with his friend, he is severing the ties with is father and exerting his autonomy. He is a young man with his own life, no longer a boy. As his father passes his fishing rod to his son, it symbolizes the transfer of independence in the relationship.

The point of view is third person, limited to Joe. This emphasizes the fact that in the father-son relationship, Joe has now begun to think for himself. Although he is close with his father and enjoys his company, Joe no longer thinks the same way that his father does. By keeping the narrative voice limited to Joe’s thoughts and feelings rather than extending the same treatment to his father, the excerpt draws attention to Joe as the newly independent one of the two.

Several details throughout the passage are included that help the reader understand the true importance of Joe’s coming of age. ”Each summer they came to this place which was nine thousand feet high and covered with pine trees and dotted with lakes...” (lines 6-8). These details about the physical location and pristine environment of the camping site show that going there every summer has been an important part of Joe’s childhood. Further description about how sleeping “inside the tent it seemed always that it was raining outside because the needles from the pine kept falling” (3-4) emphasizes the closeness Joe and his father feel as they share a tent. Perhaps the most detailed selection in the passage is the describing Joe’s father’s fishing rod. When his father casually offers him his rod, it symbolizes the passing of maturity and independence to Joe. Because the reader is told about how much the father values the rod, with its “amber leaders and beautiful silk windings,” the importance of Joe using this magnificent rod is magnified. It shows that his father realizes it is time to gracefully let go of Joe and to let him exert his autonomy.

The unusual syntax used in the passage further serves to show the relationship between Joe and his father. There are no quotation marks, no commas. Sentences are stripped bare of unnecessary grammatical techniques and structure, leaving prose that is simple to the extreme, clear and precise. This suggests that Joe and his father have a relationship in which much is accomplished with few words. They are close without saying much, and what they do say they really mean. Without much spoken communication, Joe and his father have a close relationship.

This excerpt of Johnny Got His Gun is written in bare language with simple sentence structure. Yet through this syntax, and through point of view, few, careful details, and ample use of symbolism, the close relationship between Joe and his father is portrayed. They understand each other implicitly, and as Joe reaches a coming of age, his father steps back and lets him become a man.



Sample CC

This passage extracted from “Johnny Got His Gun” tells of a simple story involving a father and son camping in the woods. Though the action in this story seems simple, the meaning behind it is quite emotional and telling. This story marks a change for both characters, for it tells of the transition in childhood when child only has interest in parent to the fateful day where he or she would rather hang out with a peer group. Through literary elements such as point of view, selection of detail and syntax the author characterizes the parent and son transition of relationships.

The point of view through most of the passage is third person limited. The thoughts and inner emotions are only known of the son Joe. This adds to the text as a whole because it underscores the uncertainty that Joe is experiencing towards his father and what his father is feeling by mirroring the readers uncertainty of how the father is feeling. This device manipulates the reader and allows the author to guarantee that the reader is emotionally entwined with the character Joe. There is also another subtle use of point of view very early on in the passage. ”You slept inside the tent” starts off the second sentence of the passage. This is technically second person point of view though it is not used in the rest of the passage. This is another subtle device used by the author in order to underscore and characterize the relationship between father and son. By using “you” the author wants the reader to interject his or her own experience with the parent/child relationship. The author manipulates the reader into using the emotions he or she felt (since parent/child relationship is universal) and applying it to the passage at hand. Thus the author employs point of view not only to highlight the uncertainty of the son Joe to his fathers emotions, but also to encourage the reader to apply universal emotions to the passage raising the text to not only a story about his father and son but to every father and son that ever existed.

Syntax is also used in order to underscore this universal relationship and transition between relationships. In the beginning of the passage when discussing the father and son relationship in years past short simple sentences are used. ”It was a very serious thing”. This underscores the fact that there was no uncertainty there. Also after Joe tells his father of his desire to go fishing with Bill Harper the syntax is once again short and simple. ”His father’s rod was a very valuable one.” These two sentences symbolize the father and son relationship before and after the transition both members no where they stand. However in the middle of the passage where the transition is occurring the syntax become muddled and extended. ”He said Bill Harper doesn’t know very much...and meet Harper and he and I will go fishing” (lines 31-34). This long extended sentance underscores the son’s desire not to hurt his fathers feelings, and the uncertainty and confusion that he feels about his own as well. Thus the syntax underscores the first stage young child/father with short concise sentances, the transition with complex run-on sentances, then to the third stage of adult son/father once again with consice clear sentances. Thus the syntax adds to the text as a whole because it allows the author to manipulate the readers reaction to the text subconsciously.

With the use of point of view and syntax the author highlights the main focus of the transition in the relationship however with his selection of detail he is able to highlight the specific emotions felt by the son and father. The passage opens with the tent pitched under “an enormous pine.” This is symbolic of the protected feeling a child experiences in the relationship of a parent. The confused emotions are underscored by Joe looking at his father in “front of the fire”, the flickering fire light underscores uncertainty. After Joe tells his father and the transition occurs the images do not become any less powerful, they just underscore different emotions. The author spends much time on describing the fathers fishing rod. This is used to underscore how valuable the rod is to his father with “amber leaders and beautiful silk windings.” It shows the reader as well as Joe that he isn’t mad at his son for growing up. Their relationship is now characterized by trust and maturity rather than protectiveness as earlier in the passage.

Thus the relationship transition is underscored by the author by employing such devices as point of view, syntax, and selection of detail. These literary devices come together to underscore the change in relationship between the father and son. At the beginning of the passage Joe was protected by his father, however, the ending image is completely different. Joe leaves “without waking his father” to symbolize that Joe is now going off into the world alone, he has grown up. Thus this passage accomplishes much more than just a simple story about a father and son, it shares the transition of every father and son, and the uncertainty of growing up. 

Due Wednesday, January 15th - Essay on "A Doll House" by Henrik Ibsen

Overview:  We discussed Ibsen's play A Doll House and viewed the end of Act III. Nora leaving Torvald is famously called, "The door slam heard around the world."  At the time, the powers that be forced Ibsen's hand, and he reluctantly changed the ending in order to avoid the outright ban on his play.  Below, view the original ending and read the alternate ending.  How does this new ending make you feel?  How does it alter Ibsen's message and intent?  Ibsen wrote Ghosts as rebuttal to this ending and the public 's reaction.  What can we expect to see in Ghosts?  Explore these ideas for our next class discussion.  You do NOT need to post ideas.  Your assignment is below...

Directions:  Please compose an essay using the 2018 A.P.E. Literature prompt, below.  You are welcome to use the issue surrounding the alternative essay in your piece.  Please use direct evidence in your essay.  Below, I provided a cross-section of 20 quotations from the play to help you.  The whole text is available in the right-hand margin of the blog.  Post your completed essay to Turnitin.com by the end of the day on Wednesday, January 15th.

Original Ending of A Doll House

Alternate Ending of A Doll House 

NORA. ... Where we could make a real marriage out of our lives together. Goodbye. [Begins to go.]

HELMER. Go then! [Seizes her arm.] But first you shall see your children for the last time!

NORA. Let me go! I will not see them! I cannot!

HELMER [draws her over to the door, left]. You shall see them. [Opens the door and says softly.] Look, there they are asleep, peaceful and carefree. Tomorrow, when they wake up and call for their mother, they will be - motherless.

NORA [trembling]. Motherless...!

HELMER. As you once were.

NORA. Motherless! [Struggles with herself, lets her travelling bag fall, and says.] Oh, this is a sin against myself, but I cannot leave them. [Half sinks down by the door.]

HELMER [joyfully, but softly]. Nora!

[The curtain falls.]

A Doll House Essay Prompt

2018. Many works of literature feature characters who have been given a literal or figurative gift. Then gift may be an object, or it may be a quality such as uncommon beauty, significant Social position, great mental or imaginative faculties, or extraordinary physical powers. Yet this gift is often also a burden or a handicap. Select a character from A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen who has been given a gift that is both an advantage and a problem. Then write a well-developed essay analyzing the complex nature of the gift and how the gift contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

Major Quotations

Act I

1. That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.

2. No, indeed; I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for any more. (Gets up restlessly.) That is why I could not stand the life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here to find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts. If only I could have the good luck to get some regular work--office work of some kind—

3. Do you still think I am of no use? I can tell you, too, that this affair has caused me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy for me to meet my engagements punctually….. Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night. Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.

4. However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible. All my patients are like that. And so are those who are morally diseased; one of them, and a bad case, too, is at this very moment with Helmer—

5. The matter never came into court; but every way seemed to be closed to me after that. So I took to the business that you know of. I had to do something; and, honestly, don't think I've been one of the worst. But now I must cut myself free from all that. My sons are growing up; for their sake I must try and win back as much respect as I can in the town. This post in the Bank was like the first step up for me--and now your husband is going to kick me downstairs again into the mud.

6. Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with everyone, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. And about the children--that is the most terrible part of it all.


Act II

7. Do you think so? Do you think they would forget their mother if she went away altogether?

8. Come what will, you may be sure I shall have both courage and strength if they be needed. You will see I am man enough to take everything upon myself.

9. Do you think he is the only one - who would gladly give his life for your sake?

10. When I was at home….I always thought it tremendous fun if I could steal down into the maids' room, because they never moralized at all, and talked to each other about such entertaining things.

11. Most of us think of (suicide) at first. I did, too - but I hadn't the courage.

12. You should have let it alone; you must prevent nothing. After all, it is splendid to be waiting for a wonderful thing to happen.


Act III

13. When I lost you, it was as if all the solid ground went from under my feet. Look at me now - I am a shipwrecked man clinging to a bit of wreckage.

14. Twenty-four hours have elapsed since then, and in that time I have witnessed incredible things in this house. He must know all about it. This unhappy secret must be enclosed; they must have a complete understanding between them, which is impossible with all this concealment and falsehood going on.

15. At the next fancy-dress ball I shall be invisible.

16. Do you know, Nora, I have often wished that you might be threatened by some great danger, so that I might risk my life's blood, and everything, for your sake.

17. Does it not occur to you that this is the first time we two, you and I, husband and wife, have had a serious conversation?

18. When I was at home with papa, he told me his opinion about everything, and so I had the same opinions; and if I differed from him I concealed the fact, because he would not have liked it. He called me his doll-child, and he played with me just as I used to play with my dolls. And when I came to live with you… I was simply transferred from papa's hands into yours….You and papa have committed a great sin against me. It is your fault that I have made nothing of my life.

19. I have other duties just as sacred…..Duties to myself.

20. The most wonderful thing of all?

Due Thursday, January 9th - "A Doll House" by Henrik Ibsen - Acts I & II

Directions: Please read A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen, Acts I and II. You can find links to the complete play, audio, and film in the right-hand margin of the blog. Next, compose a comprehensive blog response (roughly 400 words). Please use the study questions, below, as a guide to your response. You may choose one quotation and explore it in-depth or choose a combination of questions. Please use at least 2-3 major quotations in your response. Below, I provided a cross-section of quotations to help you begin.

Questions for Exploration

• What are your initial impressions of the characters? How does it change in Act II?
• How are the characters used as symbolic representations of society?  
• How does Ibsen set us up for Act II? 
• In Act II, what happens between Nora and Torvald when the subject of Krogstad is re-introduced?
• What do you notice about the interactions between Nora and Dr. Rank? Why does Nora get thrown off? How does it differ from the conversation with Torvald moments before?
• What about Krogstad? How do their conversations develop?  How does Krogstad's role as "villain" become complicated? They both hint at thoughts of suicide. Why? How does that create a sense of suspense and foreshadowing? 
• What is "the most wonderful thing?"  
• What questions do you have for me or our class discussion? 

Major Quotations

Act I

• That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short time longer that there need be any struggle.

• No, indeed; I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to live for any more. (Gets up restlessly.) That is why I could not stand the life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here to find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts. If only I could have the good luck to get some regular work--office work of some kind—

• Do you still think I am of no use? I can tell you, too, that this affair has caused me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy for me to meet my engagements punctually….. Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and sat writing every evening until quite late at night. Many a time I was desperately tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working and earning money. It was like being a man.

• However wretched I may feel, I want to prolong the agony as long as possible. All my patients are like that. And so are those who are morally diseased; one of them, and a bad case, too, is at this very moment with Helmer—

• The matter never came into court; but every way seemed to be closed to me after that. So I took to the business that you know of. I had to do something; and, honestly, don't think I've been one of the worst. But now I must cut myself free from all that. My sons are growing up; for their sake I must try and win back as much respect as I can in the town. This post in the Bank was like the first step up for me--and now your husband is going to kick me downstairs again into the mud.

• Just think how a guilty man like that has to lie and play the hypocrite with everyone, how he has to wear a mask in the presence of those near and dear to him, even before his own wife and children. And about the children--that is the most terrible part of it all.

Act II

• Do you think so? Do you think they would forget their mother if she went away altogether?

• Come what will, you may be sure I shall have both courage and strength if they be needed. You will see I am man enough to take everything upon myself.

• Do you think he is the only one - who would gladly give his life for your sake?

• When I was at home….I always thought it tremendous fun if I could steal down into the maids' room, because they never moralized at all, and talked to each other about such entertaining things.

• Most of us think of (suicide) at first. I did, too - but I hadn't the courage.

• You should have let it alone; you must prevent nothing. After all, it is splendid to be waiting for a wonderful thing to happen.

Due Monday, January 6th - Background on Henrik Ibsen

Directions: 1) Please read the background material on Henrik Ibsen. 2) In a blog post, please comment on the following: How did Ibsen's life impact his plays? How did Ibsen change modern drama? In the article, below, there are several quotations by Ibsen or about Ibsen. Choose 1-2 quotations, cut and paste them into your response. Next, explain its significance to Ibsen and to you as a scholar of drama. I look forward to your responses. We will be reading his play Ghosts.

Major Plays

“Only by grasping and comprehending my entire production as a continuous and coherent whole will the reader be able to receive the precise impression I sought to convey in the individual parts…I therefore appeal to the reader that he not put any play aside, and not skip anything, but that he absorb the plays…in the order in which I wrote them.” - Henrik Ibsen

1850 - Catiline (Catilina)
1850 - The Burial Mound also known as The Warrior's Barrow (Kjæmpehøjen)
1851 - Norma (Norma)
1852 - St. John's Eve (Sancthansnatten)
1854 - Lady Inger of Oestraat (Fru Inger til Østeraad)
1855 - The Feast at Solhaug (Gildet paa Solhoug)
1856 - Olaf Liljekrans (Olaf Liljekrans)
1857 - The Vikings at Helgeland (Hærmændene paa Helgeland)
1862 - Digte - only released collection of poetry
1862 - Love's Comedy (Kjærlighedens Komedie)
1863 - The Pretenders (Kongs-Emnerne)
1866 - Brand (Brand)
1867 - Peer Gynt (Peer Gynt)
1869 - The League of Youth (De unges Forbund)
1873 - Emperor and Galilean (Kejser og Galilæer)
1877 - Pillars of Society (Samfundets Støtter)
1879 - A Doll House (Et Dukkehjem)
1881 - Ghosts (Gengangere)
1882 - An Enemy of the People (En Folkefiende)
1884 - The Wild Duck (Vildanden)
1886 - Rosmersholm (Rosmersholm)
1888 - The Lady from the Sea (Fruen fra Havet)
1890 - Hedda Gabler (Hedda Gabler)
1892 - The Master Builder (Bygmester Solness)
1896 - John Gabriel Borkman (John Gabriel Borkman)
1899 - When We Dead Awaken (Når vi døde vaagner)

Background Material by Professor Bjorn Hemmer, University of Oslo

Introduction

Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) published his last drama, "When We Dead Awaken", in 1899, and he called it a dramatic epilogue. It was also destined to be the epilogue of his life's work, because illness prevented him from writing more. For half of a century he had devoted his life and his energies to the art of drama, and he had won international acclaim as the greatest and most influential dramatist of his time. He knew that he had gone further than anyone in putting Norway on the map.

Henrik Ibsen was also a major poet, and he published a collection of poems in 1871. However, drama was the focus of his real lyrical spirit. For a period of many hard years, he faced bitter opposition. But he finally triumphed over the conservatism and aesthetic prejudices of the contemporary critics and audiences. More than anyone, he gave theatrical art a new vitality by bringing into European bourgeois drama an ethical gravity, a psychological depth, and a social significance which the theater had lacked since the days of Shakespeare. In this manner, Ibsen strongly contributed to giving European drama a vitality and artistic quality comparable to the ancient Greek tragedies.

It is from this perspective we view his contribution to theatrical history. His realistic contemporary drama was a continuation of the European tradition of tragic plays. In these works he portrays people from the middle class of his day. These are people whose routines are suddenly upset as they are confronted with a deep crisis in their lives. They have been blindly following a way of life leading to the troubles and are themselves responsible for the crisis. Looking back on their lives, they are forced to confront themselves. However, Ibsen created another type of drama as well. In fact, he had been writing for 25 years before he, in 1877, created his first contemporary drama, "Pillars of Society".


Life and Writing

Ibsen's biography is lacking in grand and momentous episodes. His life as an artist can be seen as a singularly long and hard struggle leading to victory and fame - a hard road from poverty to international success. He spent all of 27 years abroad, in Italy and Germany. He left his land of birth at the age of 36 in 1864. It was not until he was 63 that he moved home again, to Kristiania (now Oslo), where he would die in 1906 at the age of 78.

In lbsen's last drama, "When We Dead Awaken", he describes the life of an artist that in many ways reflects on his own. The world renowned sculptor, Professor Rubek, has returned to Norway after many years abroad, and in spite of his fame and success, he feels no happiness. In the central work of his life, he has modeled a self-portrait titled "Remorse for a ruined life" During the play he is forced to admit that he has taken the pleasure out of his own life as well as spoiling others'. Everything has been sacrificed for his art - he has forsaken the love of his youth and his earlier idealism as well. It follows that he has actually betrayed his art by relinquishing these essentials. It is none other than his old flame Irene, the model who posed for him in his youth, who goes to him in his moment of destiny and tells him the truth: it is first when we dead awaken, that we see what is irremediable that we have never really lived.

It is the tragic life feeling itself that gives Ibsen's drama its special character, the experience of missing out on life and plodding along in a state of living death. The alternative is pictured as a utopian existence in freedom, truth and love - in short - a happy life. In Ibsen's world the main character strives toward a goal, but this struggle leads out into the cold, to loneliness. Yet the possibility of opting for another route is always there, one can chose human warmth and contact. The problem for Ibsen's protagonist is that both choices can appear to be good, and the individual does not see the consequences of the decision.

In "When We Dead Awaken" the chill of art is contrasted with life's warmth. In this perspective, art serves as a prison from which the artist neither can, nor wishes to escape. As Rubek says to Irene:

"I am an artist, Irene, and I take no shame to myself for the frailties that perhaps cling to me. For I was born to be an artist, you see. - And, do what I may, I shall never be anything else."

This is not an acceptable excuse for Irene, whom he has betrayed. She sees things from a different angle. She calls him a "poet", one who creates his own fictitious world, neglecting his humanity and that of the people who love him. Ella Rentheim, in "John Gabriel Borkman" (1896) makes the same complaint against the man who sacrificed her on the altar of his career. The tragic element in Ibsen's perspective is that for the type of people that concern him, this seems to be an insoluble conflict. Yet this fact does not exonerate them from the responsibility or their own decisions.

Although "When We Dead Awaken" criticizes the egocentricity of the artist, it would be going too far to view the drama as the writer's bitter self-examination. Rubek is not a self-portrait. However, some Ibsen researchers have seen him as a spokesman for the author's standpoint on the question of art. At one point, Rubek says that the public only relates to the external realistic "truth" in his human portrayal. What people do not understand is the hidden dimension in these portraits, all the deceitful motives that hide behind the respectable bourgeois facades. In his youth, Rubek had been inspired by an idealistic vision of a higher form of human existence. Experience has turned him into a disillusioned exposer of people, a man who believes he portrays life as it really is. It is the animal governing man that dominates his vision; this is Rubek's version of Zola's "La béte humaine", and he explains the changes in his art in the following way:

"I imagined that which I saw with my eyes around me in the world. I had to include it (...) and up from the fissures of the soil there now swarm men and women with dimly- suggested animal-faces. women and men - as I knew them in real life."

Understandably, some students of Ibsen have fallen into the temptation of drawing a parallel between life and art, and see this work as a merciless self-denunciation. Once again, "When We Dead Awaken" is by no means auto-biographical. Rubek's relationship with the writer has to be sought on a deeper level - in the conflicts that Ibsen, toward the end of his life, saw as a general and essential human problem.


Ibsen the Psychologist

In the work of the aging writer we meet a number of people who are experiencing similar conflicts. John Gabriel Borkman sacrifices his love for a dream of power and honor. Master builder Solness wrecks his family's lives in order to be regarded as an "artist" in his trade. And Hedda Gabler resolutely changes the fates of others in order to fulfill her own dream of freedom and independence. These examples of people who pursue their own goals, involuntarily trampling on the lives of others, are all drawn from the playwright's last decade of writing. In Ibsen's psychological analyses, he reveals the negative forces (he calls them "demons" and "trolls" in the minds of these people. His human characterization in these latter dramas is extremely complex - a common factor shared by all his last works, starting with "The Wild Duck" in 1884. In his last 15 years of writing, Ibsen developed his dialectical supremacy and his distinctive dramatic form - where realism, symbolism, and deep-digging psychological insights interact. It is this phase of his work that has prompted people to call him - rightly or wrongly - a "Freud of the theater." In any case, Freud and many other psychologists have made use of Ibsen's human portraits as a basis for character analysis or even to illustrate their own theories. Especially well known is Freud's analysis of Rebekka West in "Rosmersholm" (1886), a portrayal he discussed in 1916 together with other character types "who collapse under the weight of success." Freud sees Rebekka as a tragic victim of the Oedipus complex and an incestuous past. The analysis reveals perhaps more about Freud than about Ibsen. But Freud's influence, and the sway of psychoanalysis in general, have had a considerable effect on the way the Norwegian dramatist has been regarded.

Interest in Ibsen as a psychologist can too readily obscure other, equally important, sides of his art. His account of human life is from an acute social and conceptual perspective. Perhaps this is the essence of his art - that which turns it into existential drama exploring many facets of life. This concerns everything he wrote, even prior to his emergence as an international dramatist around 1880.


A Desperate Drama

Ibsen's work as a writer represents a long poetic contemplation of people's need to live differently than they do. Thus there is always a deep undercurrent of desperation in his work. Benedetto Croce called these portrayals of people who live in constant expectation and who are consumed by their pursuit of "something else" in life, "a desperate drama".

It is precisely this distance between what they can achieve and what they want to achieve that is the cause of the tragic (and in many cases the comic) aspect of these people's lives. Ibsen felt that this contradiction between will and real prospects was at the root of his art. Looking back on 25 years of writing in 1875, he declared that most of what he had written involved "the contradiction between ability and aspiration, between will and possibility". In this conflict he saw "humanity's and the individual's tragedy and comedy simultaneously." - A decade later, he created the tragicomic constellation of the priest Rosmer and his scruffy teacher Ulrik Brendel. These two men, who are reflections of each other, both end up on the brink of an abyss where all they see is life's total emptiness and insignificance.

In Ibsen's 12 modern contemporary plays, from "Pillars of Society" (1877) to "When We Dead Awaken" (1899), we are led time and again into the same milieu. His characters' are distinguished by their staunch, well-established bourgeois lives. Nevertheless, their world is threatened and threatening. It turns out that the world is in motion; old values and previous conceptions are adrift. The movement shakes up the life of the individual and jeopardizes the established social order. Here we see how the process has a psychological as well as a conceptual and social aspect. Yet what starts the whole process is the need for change, something springing forth from the individual's volition.

In this sense, Ibsen is a powerful conceptual writer. This does not mean that his main concern as a dramatist was the didactical use of theater, or the waging of an abstract ideological debate. (Some of his critics, contemporary and later, have made this accusation - and it's fairly obvious that Ibsen was drawn towards the didactic.) However, the basis of Ibsen's human portrayal is his characters' conceptions of what makes life worth living - their values and their understanding of existence. The concepts they use to describe their position may be unclear; their self-understanding may be intuitive and deficient. A good example of this is Ellida Wangel's description of her ambivalent attraction to the sea in "The Lady from the Sea" (1888). But for a long time, in Ellida's consciousness, a desire has grown for a freer life coupled with a need for other moral and social values than those dominating Dr. Wangel's bourgeois existence. And this discovery within her creates shockwaves on the psychological and the social plane.


The Human Conflicts

Ibsen himself has given the best characteristic of his approach to drama. This was as early as 1857 in a theater review:

"It is not the conscious strife between ideas parading before us, nor is this the situation in real life. What we see are human conflicts, and enwrapped in these, deep inside, lay ideas at battle - being defeated, or charged with victory."

This undoubtedly touches upon something essential in Ibsen's demands to dramatic art: it should as realistically as possible unify three elements: the psychological, the ideological and the social. At its best, the organic synthesis of these three elements is at the heart of Ibsen's drama. Perhaps he only succeeds completely in a few of his plays, such as "Ghosts", "The Wild Duck", and "Hedda Gabler". Interestingly, he considered his major work to be "Emperor and Galilean" (1873), contrary to everyone else. This could indicate how much emphasis he put on ideology, not overt, but as a conflict between opposing views toward life. Ibsen believed that he had created a fully "realistic" rendering of the inner conflict in the abandoned Julian. The truth is, however, that Julian is too marked by the dramatist's own thoughts - what he calls his "positive philosophy of life." Ibsen first succeeded as a theatrical writer when he seriously took another approach - the one he described in connection with "Hedda Gabler" (1890):

"My main goal has been to depict people, human moods and human fates, on the basis of certain predominant social conditions and perceptions."

Ibsen took many years, after "Emperor and Galilean", to orient himself in this direction. Five years after that great historical dramatization of ideas came "Pillars of Society", the starting point for lbsen's reputation as a European theatrical writer.


Ibsen's International Breakthrough

In 1879, Ibsen sent Nora Helmer out into the world with a demand that a woman too must have the freedom to develop as an adult, independent, and responsible person. The playwright was now over 50, and had finally been recognized outside of the Nordic countries. "Pillars of Society". had admittedly opened the German borders for him, but it was "A Doll's House". and "Ghost" (1881) which in the 1880s led him into the European avant-garde.

"A Doll's House" has a plot which he repeated in many subsequent works, in the phase when he cultivated "critical realism". We experience the individual in opposition to the majority, society's oppressive authority. Nora puts it this way: "I will have to find out who is right, society or myself."

As noted earlier, when the individual intellectually frees himself from traditional ways of thinking, serious conflicts arise. For a short period around 1880, it appears that Ibsen was relatively optimistic about the individual's chances of succeeding on his own. Although her future is insecure in many ways, Nora seems to have a real chance of finding the freedom and independence she is seeking. Ibsen can be criticized for his somewhat superficial treatment of the problems a divorced woman without means would face in contemporary society. But it was the moral problems that concerned him as a writer, not the practical and economic ones.


A Singular Success

In spite of Nora's uncertain future prospects, she has served in a number of countries as a symbol for women fighting for liberation and equality. In this connection, she is the most "international" of lbsen's characters. Yet this is a rather singular success. The middle-class public has enthusiastically applauded a woman who leaves her children and husband, completely breaking off with the most important institution in the bourgeois society - the family!

This points to the basis of Ibsen's international success. He took deep schisms and acute problems that afflicted the bourgeois family and placed them on the stage. On the surface, the middle-class homes gave an impression of success - and appeared to reflect a picture of a healthy and stable society. But Ibsen dramatizes the hidden conflicts in this society by opening the doors to the private, and secret rooms of the bourgeois homes. He shows what can be hiding behind the beautiful façades: moral duplicity, confinement, betrayal, and fraud not to mention a constant insecurity. These were the aspects of the middle-class life one was not supposed to mention in public, as Pastor Manders wished Mrs. Alving to keep secret her reading and everything else that threatened the atmosphere at Rosenvold in "Ghosts". In the same manner, the social leaders in "Rosmersholm" put pressure on Rosmer to keep him from telling that he, the priest, had given up the Christian faith.

But Ibsen did not remain silent, and the spotlights of his plays made contemporary aspects of life highly visible. He disrupted the peace of the lives of the bourgeoisie by reminding them that they had climbed to their position of social power by mastering quite different ideals than tranquillity, order and stability. The bourgeoisie had betrayed its own motto of "freedom, equality, and brotherhood", and especially after the revolutionary year 1848 they had become defenders of the status quo. There was, of course, a liberal opposition within their class, and Ibsen openly joins these ranks in his first modern contemporary drama. He considered this movement for freedom and progress to be the true "European" point of view. As early as 1870, he wrote to the Danish critic Georg Brandes that it was imperative to return to the ideas of the French revolution, freedom, equality, and brotherhood. The words need a new meaning in keeping with the times, he claimed. In 1875 he writes, again to Brandes:

"Why are you, and the rest of us who hold the European viewpoint, so isolated at home?"

Eventually, as Ibsen grew older, he had trouble accepting certain extreme forms of liberalism which overemphasized the individual's sovereign right to self-realization and to some extent radically departed from past norms and values. In "Rosmersholm", he points out the dangers of radicalism built solely on individual moral norms. It is obvious here that Ibsen is concerned with European culture's basis in a Christian inspired moral tradition. One has to build on this, he indicates, even though one has given up the Christian faith. This is certainly the conclusion that Rebekka West reaches.

Simultaneously, this drama, like "Ghosts", is a painful clash with the melancholic, killjoy aspects of the Christian bourgeois tradition which subdues the human spirit. Both these works contain, for all their despair, a warm defense of happiness and the joy of life - pitted against the bourgeois society's emphasis on duty, law, and order.

It was in the 1870s that Ibsen oriented himself toward his "European" point of view. Even though he lived abroad, he continually chose a Norwegian setting for his contemporary dramas. As a rule, we find ourselves in a small Norwegian coastal town, the kind Ibsen knew so well from his childhood in Skien and his youth in Grimstad. The background of the young Ibsen certainly gave him a sharp eye for social forces and conflicts arising from differing viewpoints. In small societies, such as the typical Norwegian coastal town, these social and ideological conflicts are more exposed than they would be in a larger city.

Ibsen's first painful experiences came from such a small community. He had seen how conventions, traditions, and norms could exercise a negative control over the individual, create anxiety, and inhibit a natural and joyful lifestyle. This is the atmosphere of the "ghosts" as Mrs. Alving experiences it. According to her, it makes people "afraid of the light."

This was the atmosphere of his youth that formed the basis for his writing and world fame. As an insecure writer and man of the theater in a stifling Norwegian milieu, he set out to create a new Norwegian drama. He began with this national perspective. At the same time, from his first journey abroad, he oriented himself toward the European tradition of theater.


lbsen's Years of Learning

In the history of drama, early in the 1850s Ibsen carried on the traditions of two highly dissimilar writers, the Frenchman Eugéne Scribe (1791-1861) and the German Friedrich Hebbel (1813-63). For 11 years the young Ibsen was occupied with day to day practical stagework, and it follows that he had to keep himself well informed about the latest contemporary Euro-heatrical art. He worked with rehearsals of new plays and was committed to writing for the theater.

Scribe could teach him how a drama's plot should be structured in a logically motivated progression of scenes. Hebbel provided him with an example of the way drama could be based on life's contemporary dialectics, creating a modern conceptual drama. Hebbel's pioneering work was his conveyance of the ideologicalconflicts of his day into the theater where he created "a drama of issues" pointing forward. He also knew how the Greek tragedy's retrospective technique could be used by a modern dramatist.

In other words, Ibsen was in close contact with the art of the stage for a long uninterrupted period. His six years at the theater in Bergen (1851-57) and the following four or five years at the theater in Kristiania from 1857 were not easy. But he acquired a sharp eye for theatrical techniques and possibilities.

During a study tour to Copenhagen and Dresden in 1852, he came across a dramaturgical work newly released in Germany. It was Hermann Hettner's "Das moderne Drama" (1852). This programmatic treatise for a new topical theater deeply affected Ibsen's development as a dramatist. In Hettner too, we see the strong influence of Scribe and Hebbel, combined with a passionate interest for Shakespeare. Ibsen also gleaned knowledge from other writers, most notably Schiller and the two Danes Adam Oehlenschleger (1779-1850) and John Ludvig Heiberg (1791-1860).

Ibsen's apprenticeship was long, lasting about 15 years, and included theater work he later would claim to be as difficult as "having an abortion every day." There was a strong pressure to produce hanging over him; one that led to fumbling attempts in many directions. He experienced a few minor artistic victories - and numerous defeats. Very few believed that he had the necessary gift to become more than a minor theatrical writer with a modicum of talent.

In spite of this insecurity, it is a determined young writer we see during these years. His goal was clearly national. Together with his friend and colleague Bjornstjerne Bjornson (1832-1910), he founded "The Norwegian Company" in 1859, an organ for Norwegian art and culture. They had a joint program for their activities. Ibsen was especially concerned with the role of theater in the young Norwegian nation's search for its own identity In these "nation-building" pursuits, he gathered his material from the country's medieval history and perfected his art as a dramatist. This is prominent in the work that caps Ibsen's period of apprenticeship, "The Pretenders" from 1863. The story takes place in Norway in the 1200s, a period marked by destructive strife. But Ibsen's perspective is Norway of the 1860s when he has the king, Haakon Haakonsson, express his thoughts on national unity:

"Norway was a kingdom, now it will be a nation (... ) all shall be as one hereafter, and all shall know in themselves that they are one!"

"The Pretenders" was Ibsen's breakthrough, yet he had to wait a few years before being recognized as one of the country's leading writers. This honor came in 1866 with "Brand" "The Pretenders", constitutes the end of his close relationship with Norwegian theater. It was also his farewell performance - he now started his long exile. In the years that followed, he turned away from the stage and sought a reading public.


The Great Topical Dramas

Both the great dramas for reading, "Brand" (1866) and "Peer Gynt" (1867), were based on Ibsen's problematic relationship with his country of birth. Political developments in 1864 led him to lose his optimistic belief in his country's future. He even began to doubt whether his countrymen had a historical raison d'être as a nation.

What he had earlier treated as a national problem of identity now became a question of the individual's personal integrity. It was no longer sufficient to dwell on an earlier historical era of greatness and focus on the continuity of the nation's life. Ibsen turned away from history, and confronted what he considered the main contemporary problem - a nation can only rise up culturally by means of the individual's exertion of will. "Brand" is mainly a drama with a message that the individual must follow the path of volition in order to achieve true humanity In addition, this is the only way to real freedom - for the individual, and it follows, for society as a whole.

In the two rather different twin works "Brand" and "Peer Gynt", the focus is on the problem of personality, Ibsen dramatizes the conflict between an opportunistic acting out of an unnatural role, and a dedication to a demanding lifelong quest. In "Peer Gynt", the dramatist created a scene which artistically illustrates this situation of conflict. The aging Peer, on his way back to his Norwegian roots is forced to come to terms with himself. As he looks back upon his wasted life, he peels an onion. He lets each layer represent a different role he has played. But he finds no core. He has to face the fact that he has become "no one", that he has no "self".

"So unspeakably poor, then, a soul can go back to nothingness, in the misty gray. You beautiful earth, don't be annoyed that I left no sign when I walked your grass. You beautiful sun, in vain you've shed your glorious light on an empty house. There was no one within to cheer and warm; - The owner, they tell me, was never at home."

Peer is the weak, spineless person - Brand's antithesis. But it is precisely in Ibsen's living portrayal of a personality's "dissolution" in changing roles, that some historians of the theater see the harbinger of a modernistic perception of the individual. The British drama researcher Ronald Gaskell puts it this way: "Peer Gynt" inaugurates the drama of the modern mind", and he continues: "Indeed, if Surrealism and Expressionism in the theater can be said to have any single source, the source is undoubtedly "Peer Gynt".

Thus does this early Ibsen drama though very "Norwegian" and romantic claim a central position in theatrical history, even though it was not written for the stage. In fact, it is "Peer Gynt" that in modern times has helped Ibsen to retain his position as a vital and relevant writer. Thus it was not only his contemporary plays that have made him one of the most towering figures in the history of the theater. Although it was mainly these works the well-known Swedish researcher in drama, Martin Lamm, had in mind when he claimed:

"Ibsen's drama is the Rome of modern drama: all roads lead to it - and from it."

Even though Ibsen withdrew from his Norwegian starting point in the 1870s and became "a European," he was always deeply marked by the country he left in 1864, and to which he first returned as an aging celebrity. It was not easy for him to return. The many years abroad, and the long struggle for recognition, had left their indelible stamp. Towards the end of his career, he said that he really was not happy with the fantastic life he had lived. He felt homeless - even in his mother country.

But it is precisely this tension between the Norwegian and the foreign (an element of freer European culture) in Ibsen that characterized him more than anything else as an individual and a writer. His independent position in what he called "the great, free, cultural situation" provided him with the broad perspective of distance, and freedom. Simultaneously, the Norwegian in him created a longing for a more liberated and happier life. This is the longing for the sun in the grave writer's poetic world. He never denied his distinctive Norwegian character. Toward the end of his life, he said to a German friend:

He who wishes to understand me, must know Norway. The magnificent, but severe, natural environment surrounding people up there in the north, the lonely, secluded life - the farms are miles apart - forces them to be unconcerned with others, to keep to their own. That is why they become introspective and serious, they brood and doubt - and they often lose faith. At home every other person is a philosopher! There, the long, dark, winters come with their thick fogs enveloping the houses - oh, how they long for the sun!

Due Friday, December 20th - Q3 Essay "Gogol" and "The Overcoat"

Overview:  Below, I included a brief article by Jhumpa Lahiri, titled, "My Two Lives" in which she candidly shares the life experiences that went into realizing her novel, The Namesake. Please read it before you begin the following assignment.  It will help you think about the human element of literature.  Remember, there are real people in this fictional world.

Directions:  I would like you to apply your knowledge of Jhumpa Lahiri and Nikolai Gogol to the following essay experience.  You will compose an essay using a Q3 essay prompt and the stories, "Gogol" and "The Overcoat." You should use direct evidence from the texts whenever necessary.  The prompt and links for quotations can be found at the bottom of this post.  Post the completed essay to Turnitin.com by the end of the week.  We will go over these essays when you return from break.  I look forward to your responses.

NOTE:  There will be no homework over the winter break.  Enjoy your time off.

"My Two Lives" an essay by Jhumpa Lahiri

Newsweek, March 6, 2006 issue

I have lived in the United States for almost 37 years and anticipate growing old in this country. Therefore, with the exception of my first two years in London, "Indian-American" has been a constant way to describe me. Less constant is my relationship to the term. When I was growing up in Rhode Island in the 1970s I felt neither Indian nor American. Like many immigrant offspring I felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new, approved of on either side of the hyphen. Looking back, I see that this was generally the case. But my perception as a young girl was that I fell short at both ends, shuttling between two dimensions that had nothing to do with one another. At home I followed the customs of my parents, speaking Bengali and eating rice and dal with my fingers. These ordinary facts seemed part of a secret, utterly alien way of life, and I took pains to hide them from my American friends. For my parents, home was not our house in Rhode Island but Calcutta, where they were raised. I was aware that the things they lived for—the Nazrul songs they listened to on the reel-to-reel, the family they missed, the clothes my mother wore that were not available in any store in any mall—were at once as precious and as worthless as an outmoded currency.

I also entered a world my parents had little knowledge or control of: school, books, music, television, things that seeped in and became a fundamental aspect of who I am. I spoke English without an accent, comprehending the language in a way my parents still do not. And yet there was evidence that I was not entirely American. In addition to my distinguishing name and looks, I did not attend Sunday school, did not know how to ice-skate, and disappeared to India for months at a time. Many of these friends proudly called themselves Irish-American or Italian-American. But they were several generations removed from the frequently humiliating process of immigration, so that the ethnic roots they claimed had descended underground whereas mine were still tangled and green. According to my parents I was not American, nor would I ever be no matter how hard I tried. I felt doomed by their pronouncement, misunderstood and gradually defiant. In spite of the first lessons of arithmetic, one plus one did not equal two but zero, my conflicting selves always canceling each other out.

When I first started writing I was not conscious that my subject was the Indian-American experience. What drew me to my craft was the desire to force the two worlds I occupied to mingle on the page as I was not brave enough, or mature enough, to allow in life. My first book was published in 1999, and around then, on the cusp of a new century, the term "Indian-American" has become part of this country's vocabulary. I've heard it so often that these days, if asked about my background, I use the term myself, pleasantly surprised that I do not have to explain further. What a difference from my early life, when there was no such way to describe me, when the most I could do was to clumsily and ineffectually explain.

As I approach middle age, one plus one equals two, both in my work and in my daily existence. The traditions on either side of the hyphen dwell in me like siblings, still occasionally sparring, one outshining the other depending on the day. But like siblings they are intimately familiar with one another, forgiving and intertwined. When my husband and I were married five years ago in Calcutta we invited friends who had never been to India, and they came full of enthusiasm for a place I avoided talking about in my childhood, fearful of what people might say. Around non-Indian friends, I no longer feel compelled to hide the fact that I speak another language. I speak Bengali to my children, even though I lack the proficiency to teach them to read or write the language. As a child I sought perfection and so denied myself the claim to any identity. As an adult I accept that a bicultural upbringing is a rich but imperfect thing.

While I am American by virtue of the fact that I was raised in this country, I am Indian thanks to the efforts of two individuals. I feel Indian not because of the time I've spent in India or because of my genetic composition but rather because of my parents' steadfast presence in my life. They live three hours from my home; I speak to them daily and see them about once a month. Everything will change once they die. They will take certain things with them—conversations in another tongue, and perceptions about the difficulties of being foreign. Without them, the back-and-forth life my family leads, both literally and figuratively, will at last approach stillness. An anchor will drop, and a line of connection will be severed.

I have always believed that I lack the authority my parents bring to being Indian. But as long as they live they protect me from feeling like an impostor. Their passing will mark not only the loss of the people who created me but the loss of a singular way of life, a singular struggle. The immigrant's journey, no matter how ultimately rewarding, is founded on departure and deprivation, but it secures for the subsequent generation a sense of arrival and advantage. I can see a day coming when my American side, lacking the counterpoint India has until now maintained, begins to gain ascendancy and weight. It is in fiction that I will continue to interpret the term "Indian-American," calculating that shifting equation, whatever answers it may yield.

"The Overcoat" illustration by Geffen Refaeli

Essay Prompt:

(1981 A.P.E. Exam)  The meaning of some literary works is often enhanced by sustained allusions to myths, the Bible, or other works of literature. For this assignment, you will use Jhumpa Lahiri's "Gogol" as the primary literary work and Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" as the sustained literary allusion. Write a well-organized essay in which you explain the allusion that predominates in the work and analyze how it enhances the work's meaning.  You are free to add material from "My Two Lives" and the film The Namesake in your essay.  Use direct quotations and evidence.  I look forward to your responses.

"The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol - Major Quotations

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - Major Quotations

Due Monday, December 16th - "We all came out of Gogol's overcoat...One day you will understand."

Directions:  Please read "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol.  Comment on the story using 2-3 direct quotations from the text in your response.  Think about the line Ashoke quoted from Dostoevsky, "We all came out of Gogol's overcoat.  One day you will understand."  Given what you understand of the short story, below, what do you think Lahiri meant in using this quotation as an allusion?  What clues do you see in the stories?  How does it show a correlation between name and self?  What does that mean for Gogol Ganguli and his change of name?  How does it add a richness to your understanding of Lahiri's work? I look forward to your responses.

"The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol

Due Wednesday, November 11th - "World Mythology" / "Downward Dogs & Warriors"

Directions:
1)  Please read and take notes on the packet contain selections from World Mythology by Donna Rosenberg and Downward Dogs & Warriors by Zo Newell.

2)  Respond to the text in this blog space.  Comment on the World Mythology section using the study questions on page 3 as a guide.  For the Downward Dogs section, respond to the stories in some way, making connections to literature or your personal experience with mythology.  If you follow this religion, what other insights can you share?  If you practice another religion, do you see similarities in these stories?  What universal elements bring us together?  Next week, we will be engaging in these yoga poses.  Have you tried yoga or meditation before?  If so, what advice or experience can you share with your classmates?  I look forward to your responses.