One step forward and two steps back

It always seems that when ever the world tries to go forward that someone always screws it up. The Germans are trying to get rid of all the tainted people like woman and children and men that where not of the Germans special race. Which consist of blond hair and blue eyes. They where also getting rid of anyone that was catholic or Jewish  In one part of the story it talks about how they hear a rabbi praying. “He has covered his head with a piece of rag torn off a blanket and reads from a Hebrew prayer book (there is no shortage of this type of literature at the camp), wailing loudly, monotonously.”(Borowski 696) One guy wanted to shut the man up but they decided that it was pointless he was fixing to die anyways. “Let him rave. They'll take him to the oven that much sooner.”(Borowski 697) It always amazed me that we had come so far since the 300 ab that it seems that we had gone back to when everyone were persecuting the Catholics  But the weird thing is that the Jews have been around forever. Its not just a random religion that has no point. The Germans make it seem like being anything but a “German” was wrong. I'm just glad we are out of that time and have moved forward since then. There will always be one person who will try to make us far back in the dark ages. But as long as we hold strong and keep in our faith then we to will overcome any trails that will be thrown in our path.

Terror in the 20th century

20th century literature is filled with realistic and historical events that shows the fight between humanity. The 20th century starts to change the way literature is written based on real life experiences and differences. War is a major theme to many literary works because so much war and conflicts were happening during the writer's time. Tadeusz Borowski writes his work from his own experiences, during the holocaust. His story of the concentration camps emphasizes the life and the people's behaviors in his short story, This Way For The Gas, Ladies And Gentlemen. This story gives great insight to the terror and disfunctional being of a debauched world, in order to become one whole empire, under the same belief and values. It was such a rapid and uncivilized change that it can such individualism to the world, as well as the way people looked at and to the world. It gave all humanity a reason to believe that the world is corrupt; it gave people the idea, whom had the most power, to fix and put into affect their own way to how the whole world of humanity should base their ways of life. The holocaust was such a destruction to the point that it gave the victims of the situation, a state of victimizing their own peer prisoners to whom they had an upper hand on. The victims started to hate and victimize other prisoners because of the ideas that were portrayed to be the only way, gave root to their own demoralizing of other prisoner's ways. Using Henri's feedback to his own statement, Borowski states, "Ah, on the contrary, it is natural, predictable, calculated. The ramp exhausts you, you rebel-and the easiest way to relieve your hate is to turn against someone weaker" (Borowski 702). His own exhaustion and hate for what has happened engraves his own mind to become the same evil to why he is a prisoner. The prisoners were stripped of everything to completely humiliate, demoralize, and dehumanize them into their deaths as uncivilized humans, incapable to living a truthful and their own way of life, so they start to believe. Describing the prisoner life, Henri states to Borowski, "Can't you see how uch easier life is becoming around here" (Borowski 696). They start to see the good in the camps and the way of the Germans, to believe in the good and see the bad around them from the different people in the prisons.

Desensitized...the devil's advocate

After reading Borowski's, "This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen," I found it horrifying to re-live the desensitized ways of the Nazi's. Representing the 20th century literature very well...with the psychological issues of Hitler...class issues...the need of the Nazi's to make the world culturally homogenized-anyone who is a Jew must go! The genocidal way that Hitler used to dispose of Jews is almost unbearable to read. Borowski says, "...inhumanly crammed, buried under incredible heaps of luggage, suitcases, trunks, packages...Monstrously squeezed together, they have fainted from heat, suffocated, crushed one another" (Borowski 700). Even the way they brought them in on the trucks was in itself a death sentence. What exactly did it prove? Did it help the world become a better place? I really have never understood the reason behind Hitler's motives...which I guess is a good thing. It would be scary to think you are riding a bus to the destination of death. Watching daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters walk into a gas chamber with no choice of turning back. And such a systematic way of operating the mass murders...these to the left...these to the right...you catch the next bus to the chamber. Borowski tells us that "[a]ll day, thousands of naked me shuffle up and down the roads, cluster around the squares..." (Borowski 695). The guards just sit around and wait on the next load of moaning human faces to comes rolling in on the trucks: "...the trucks have arrived, steps are being drawn up, and the Canada men stand ready at their posts by the train doors" (Borowski 700). I believe in this example of 20th century literature, the word 'desensitized' truly sums up the nature of the guards...being as how most of them were healthy Jews used for their muscle and left later to die: "I feel no pity. I am not sorry they're going to the gas chamber" (Borowski 702). I feel that this writing from Borowski helps the reader understand the morbid reality of what these people went through and what a waste of humanity took place.

    

The Metamorphosis of Grete

A theme that we've seen many times in the works we've read is the journey that people take from innocence  to experience. Gregor's sister Grete, much like Victor Frankenstein or Gulliver, is a prime example of how a person's innocence is often sapped by the grave reality of their situation. She initially takes on the eerie task of caring for Gregor with a sideways optimism, as he later notes she "ultimately had perhaps taken on such a difficult task purely out of childish high spirits" (Kafka 226). Although she is repulsed by him, she is still able to imagine him as Gregor; imagination is often lost on adults, as we see his parents unable to view the bug in the other room as their son. This connection between them is foretelling of her journey; as Gregor was also an innocent person who was obligated through no fault of his own to work off his family's debt, so too is Grete an innocent dragged into a dutiful role. Although she has good intentions by feeding Gregor and moving the chair for him, I think that perhaps it finally dawned on her that not being able to look at Gregor was a symptom of the fact that she was having a harder and harder time seeing him as her brother. This building confrontation erupts when he comes out of his room and scares the household while she plays the violin. The contrast of the peace of the violin set against the following outburst, is indicative of the fragile peace they had been maintaining. She finally breaks down, and I believe she is finally honest with herself, as she laments, "I don't want to speak the name of my brother within the hearing of that monster, and so I will merely say: we have to try to get rid of it.We did as much as humanly possible to try and look after it and tolerate it" (Kafka 237). This moment of honesty is refreshing, as now the remaining human members of the family are able to coalesce and set about resolving their situation. As the family rides in the carriage after Gregor's death, the first mention of warm sunlight is made, and Grete's parents note that she has become a beautiful woman, indicative of the internal change that has taken place, and so as the story closes, she rises up and stretches her arms, much like the wings of a butterfly emerging from her cocoon.

Could you imagine what the world today would be like if it was back in the 20 century? Would it be the same or different? Think about it....if we did not have the people that helped make a change, will the world still be the same like it was before. The story This way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen has me thinking could we as people today survive what these people had to go through. "Babies, hideous naked women, men twisted by convulsions" (Borowski 705). At this point, your family is no longer a family. Your not in control anymore, your family is seperated and you do not know where each other is. You know longer have a normal life or the life you always known, watching your children grow up. Now your worries are, are they alive. There was only two things that the people asked for: Water and air (Wasser! Luft! 706). We are lucky enough, we can just go to the kitchen and turn on the sink and we have running clean water. And these people not only fighting to stay alive as long as they can but they just want water and air. That is why after reading this story and know what I know now about differnt things, I do not think if these events occured right now that we would not know what to do. We would be just like the poor innocent people that had their life changed at an instant.

The Cold Hard Facts

It seems to me that one of the main differences between literature in the twentieth century and other periods of literature is that stories from the twentieth century are more realistic and out there. They deal more with the "flat-out truth". In the stories we have read before there seemed to be some kind of deeper meaning or point to the story, whereas in This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski, there is no point or lesson to be learned. We are just given the cold hard facts about what is happening. One of the quotes that stood out to me the most is when the narrator talks about deceiving people about the gas chambers. "It is the camp law: people going to their death must be deceived to the very end. This is the only permissible form of charity (Borowski 700)." This quote moved me because it makes lying to all of these people about the gas chambers a moral thing in the perverse system that they got going. Reading this story made me think about all the things that I have that I take for granted. These people were tortured physically and mentally for no reason at all. I couldnt imagine having to witness some of the things that these people did. The other thing in the story that moved me the most is when they talk about having to unload corpses. "I go back inside the train; I carry out dead infants; I unload luggage. I touch corpses, but I cannot overcome the mounting, uncontrollable terror (Borowski 705)." Knowing that people have lived through things like this makes my life seem very fortunate and every time I read something about the Holocaust it reminds me that I am very lucky.

Death of the Innocent.................

In the short story, This Way for the Gas, Ladies, and Gentlemen written by Tadeusz Borowski, he wants his reader to visualize how the innocent suffered without much hope. His setting is placed during the Holocaust which took place between 1933- 1945, where the German’s killed millions of Jews including women and young children. You can imagine how horrible this place was. In the short story as you read you see a small glimpse of hope when the Red Cross van is mention. He replies, “A Red Cross van drives back and forth, incessantly: it transports the gas that will kill these people” (Borowski 701). Normally when you see a cross it symbolize hope and truth, but during this point it symbolizes death for the people who do not know because it carries the gas that will expire their life. The Jews are forced to endure this act because the people who could help did not know or just did not care. Women was afraid to claim their own children because they could not phantom the abuse and torture they endured. He replies, “Pick up your child woman: the child runs after her [screaming], ‘Mama, mama, don’t leave me: so you’re running from your child, [the woman was choked to death] and thrown onto the truck” (Borowski 704). The mother was killed because she did not want to see her child suffer. How many of us today will die so we will not  be a witness to the suffering of our children?

This way for gas, Ladies and Gentlemen is about terror extermination camps. Like those in the time of Hitler, Adulf Hitler and Stalin. How they gas chambered their peoples is,  very similar to what is being, simulated here in this fictionalize short story. fantasy verse reality is the tone of this story. Borowski says, "The story's brutal realism and matter-of-fact tone convey as no passionate oratory could the mind-numbing horror of a situation in which systematic slaughter was the background for everyday life" (Borowski 694). This is a contrasting horror story with the writer assimulating fantasy and reality. Exterminating people as if it was the normal thing to do. Making suggestion with the notion that everything is accepted and expected. Again Borowski says, "Twenty-eight thousand women have been stripped naked and driven out of the barracks" (Borowski 695). They were in concentration camps stripped naked awaiting going to the crematoria. Seems like everybody is going along to become extermanated. No one is resisting being driven like cattle to a slaughter, housed in barracks seeing all around them, what was next and who was next. Once again this story is like whats unnormal is taken normal . Throughout this story is like a horrror movie being watch in a close tight seat. Yet in reality this type of  exterminating human beings has actually happen. I finish this blog just as i started it, sumarizing the over all description being suggested.

Dairy of a Madman was one of the most crazy and weird stories I have ever read. I would not have even read the whole story but as I was getting deeper in the story, it kind of had some things in the story that some individuals might encounter through their lifetime. As we grow up, we watch and learn from our parents. We pick up some of their traits like the way mom makes her stuffing for Thanksgiving or the way dad taught you how to be strong and defend yourself. But we also start believing in what they believe because that is all we knew growing up and that is the right way. So, that's how the madman felt when he came across the children in the street. "I have it! Their fathers and mothers have taught them to be like that!" (Lu Xun 245). The madman feels the reason why the children are staring and talking about him because they learned it from their parents. Just remember our children watch and learn from the parents so be careful what you might give off to your children. Cannibalism is the practice of eating the flesh of your own kind, that is what this story is all about. Throughout the whole story, the madman was trying to figure out why were the people in the community looking so gray and it felt like it to me they had a demen inside their soul. Finally he figured out that he was a normal human being that has not be corrupted by these people and they wanted to eat him. "To be eaten as soon as possible!" (Lu Xun 247). He figures out that his elder brother is a cannibal too. Its like when a family member or a close friend turns on you and you dont know which way to go. You just cannot believe that this person is on the other side. Now, for the future holds is in the children's hands. "Maybe there are some children around who still havent eaten human flesh. Save the children" (Lu Xun 253). The madman wants to save anybody especially the children that has not eating human flesh yet to see for generations to come that maybe they as a communtiy can stop cannibalism. The future is always in the hands of the younger generations to continue to make change happen in the world. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8tmgpOiWRw&feature=player_embedded#t=0s

Go to this link and watch the video on cannibalism. Warning it is very graphic!

Literature through time

Literature has created written history into the minds and way of life throughout time. The way people thought, grew through change, and lived through customs has generated who we are today, in a way that no human can explain why. Literature is a art that has expressed the mind in order to remember the pasts ideas and knowledge of what surrounded the writers during their era of time. The different eras of literature are accustomed to how the people in the world has innovated themselves and their society's expansions all around. The enlightenment period gives reason why someone acts by the way society portrays and demands each person to act, by sticking to a role formed and justified in that society. The enlightenment era, in literature, demonstrates that a means to the structure and beliefs in how someone should live and base their morals, are needed to be looked passed because their is more to living than what is expected for you to do. How the next best way to keep power and people together through different ideas and manipulation was for a purpose; but everyone that makes that society work deserves a voice and a right to the same things. In the text, What Is Enlightenment, Kant exclaims, "Thus the public can only slowly attain enlightenment" (Kant 106). The next era, Romantic era, focuses more on the individual self's perserverance or destitute physically or mentally for a societal preference based on a personal experience. The Romantic era shows a will to search for knowledge through exploration and to develop the minds and structure for a means. In the book Frankenstein, written around 1818, the character Frankenstein is telling his story in first person, as he reflects his past doings and thoughts while experience much of his story in nature. A new era is formed and is called Realism. Realism involves much death and questions the truths through the darker side of human nature. It holds the structures of gender roles and society's class system. Hedda Gabler was a women that came to control her society around her and soon realizes that nothing still doesn't change all in the end. At the end to her destruction, Hedda States, "But in your power. Totally subject to your demands-And your will. Not free. Not free at all. No, that's one thought I just can't stand. Never" (Ibsen 837)! Hedda couldn't stand the power men had in her society and so it lead to her killing herself  because she could not live in loneliness, no say, and no control. These eras structures the way literature is written and interpreted by the reader of the thoughts and way of life during the time they were written. It gives a huge insight to the question of why the were written the way they were.

Sickness

With this story we learn about a man who is the main money maker for the family.One morning this all changes.He changes into a cockroach and his family think that he is just sick but in reality he is not he is changing into some kind of bug.  The chief clerk can to see how he was doing, basically to make sure he was really sick and not faking it co miss out on work. When the chief clerk arrives at his home his sister is crying and Gregor doesn't understand why. He thought it was “Because he wouldn't get up and admit the chief clerk, because he was in danger of losing his job,and because the director would then pursue his parents with the old claims.”(kafka 215) All Gregor worries about is his family in the beginning. He worries about his sister not getting ready for the day and for his parents because they might get into a lot of trouble because of the claims they have against them.His sister stays by his door trying to get him to come out but its no use. Gregor is stuck in bed and cant get out. His father doesn't have a job and neither does his mother and sister. Gregor has became the foundation to his families life style because of his job. It surprises us when we see how his father acts toward Gregor. He has so much hate he throws a apple at his back which basically slowly kills him. But after he dies he his family takes no time into getting over him.

This is a story of the classical era, about an absurd idea of a, Chinese writer name, Lu Xun.
He was born into a Shaoxing family of confucian writers. Lu Xun had a traditional education and became a classical scholar. He grew up at a time when his traditional education was starting to fade away. Lu Xun and other chinese writers joined the era in traveling abroad for higher learning.
His father had died whom was the sole purpose of him holding on to his families, Confucian tradition. So Lu and others started traveling around the world, learning knowledge in different parts, of the world. Lu Xun was a revolutionary writer he wrote in the first history of Chinese fiction.
In the early nineteen hundreds their was a massive student strike, for the goverment not to sign a treaty. That would have allowed Japan to have control over a certain area in China. Lu Xun was not a political person, but it was in this time that he started writing his short stories. In the final days of his life, he became a political activist. Lu Xun says, "Diary of a mad man" (1918), Lu Xun's earliest story in modern Chinese, opens with a preface in mannered classical Chinese, giving an account of the discovery of the diary" (Xun 243). This story starts with a young boy becoming sick, and his father bringing him a human organ to eat, as medicine for his aliment. Who is surrounded by people that have a most unfamilar look on their faces all the time. He has a brother whom he learns later on in the story that is a cannibal. Also he had a little sister that died when she was five, but their was no burial. She had been eaten alive by his elder brother.These cannibal people that he grew up around, justified eating people base on, if they were good or bad people. This little boy wanted his people to change from being cannibals to normal human beings. Now he has found out why they have this strange look on their faces their cannibals. He's telling them if they don't change they were going to eat each other up eventually. He also believe that his mother knew that his elder brother had eaten his little sister. Once when this little boy was five years old or so, his elder brother told him that when parents are sick. That a son to be considered to be a good son , should cut off a piece of their flesh and boil it,and  give it to them. In my conclusion of this fiction story, i would like to share some factual evidence about cannibalism. It is the year (2012) and a NYC city cop by the name of Gilberto Valle, has been arrested for planning to kidnap, torture and rape, and eat one hundred women in NYC. Strange one would say, as our writer Lu Xun ends his alleged fictional story. I google cannibalism in Arkansas and i found that a heavy metal rock group. Came to Little Rock at Juanita's this past Saturday, their name is the cannibals. Woe! their hit songs are "butchered at birth", The walking dead, meat hook sodomy, Hacksaw decapitation, A Skull full of maggots, The latest is title Torture. In Mississippi they have cannibal attacks, Woe whats really going on! Fiction or nonfiction

The Rejection of Tradition in "Diary of a Madman"

              The act of cannibalism is the driving conflict behind "Diary of a Madman". More specifically, it is the threat of metaphorical cannibalization by the society around the Madman. What he perceives as cannibalistic nature in the surrounding people, he also recognizes as an attempt to restrain him (physically as well as mentally) from transcending their obsolete traditions. As his delusions progress, his focus falls on cannibalism as an albatross of society, and is compelled to change it. In this way, we can see the "cannibals" of our own society: the people who cannot leave their archaic ideas behind, and so choose to "consume" those who would change their way of life, rather than change. As he notes, "But all they'd have to do is give up that way of thinking, and then they could travel about, work, eat, and sleep in perfect security. [...] But what do they do instead? [...] Why they all join together to hold each other back [...] They'd rather die than take that one little step" (Xun 250). With or without context, this statement can be made about many traditions of both the Madman's society, and our own.

             There is a duality to this idea, in that often we miss the fact that we are closely related, if not in some way complicit, to this insecure protection of our old ways. In the story, the Madman believes his own brother to be a cannibal, and the irony is not lost on him in that regard, "Even though I'm to be the victim of cannibalism, I'm brother to a cannibal all the same" (Xun 247). Often times when we join a cause or decide to make a change, we find that some of the people closest to us are entrenched in the very values we seek to change. And so we are torn between our duty as individuals to grow and advance society, and our unwillingness to leave behind those who may be close to us, but cling to outdated beliefs.

You Only Live Once

I was very worried that I would have no ideas on what to write about after reading The Metamorphosis. I racked my brain all day at school and half the day at work trying to figure out how I could possibly relate to this story in any way.... and then it came to me. Although the events in this story were alittle on the random side, I think there was a message after all. I think basically it was trying to teach people to get out and get what they can out of life and not just sit around being miserable with their day to day routine. If you are feeling like there is something missing, then go out and do what you need to do to fulfill happiness. We can see from the beginning of the story that Gregor is not very happy with his job. He lets the reader know from the start that his work is tiring. "Oh, my Lord! he thought. If only I didn't have to follow such an exhausting proffession! (Kafka 211)" Gregor is obviously burnt out on work but keeps doing what he has to do to support his family. Not only is he an unfulfilled person, but his family is also unable to reach their potential because they are so dependent on him. Getting use to their same routine and settling has set them all back. It is not until the end that they get away from their boring life. "Then the three of them all together left the flat, which was something they hadn't done for months, and took the tram to the park at the edge of the city. (Kafka 241)" Unfortunately, it is with Gregor's sacrifice that they are forced to move forward with their lives. Gregor wasn't able to get enjoyment out of life because he spent it working and eventually his time was up and it was to late. This is where the lesson comes in. Do not just sit around wasting your life. You never know when your time is going to be up so get out there and make something happen because you only live once!

Change can mean Death...........................

In the story The Metamorphosis, written by Franz Kafka the main character was Gregor Samsa.  Gregos was strange but a normal person who stayed at home with his parents working for a living. He one day woke up from a distressful dream and realizes he has turned into a coach roach. Most people would have panic but for some reason Gregor did not. His life was such a routine he still thinks about work even as an insect he replies, “In any case, somebody will have come from work by then to ask for me, because the business opens before seven o’clock” (Kafka 213). When the father, mother, and sister found out about his transformation they were concerned. The father took it to another level. He was furious about his son being a coach roach. This frustration from the father caused him to be abusive toward his son.  Gregor father, “from behind gives him a truly liberating kick, bleeding profusely” (Kafka 220).   After this incident Gregor stayed in his room most of the time, this is the first incident. His mother and sisters feels sorry for him. His sister brings certain foods to his room so he will eat, which helps with his comfort level. The second incident with his father fear is when he throws an apple into the center of Gregor back. This apple logged in Gregor back caused his death, he died in his room. After his death life went on as though Gregor never existed. Sometime in life, what we fear keeps us from understanding the meaning of change.

Hedda Gabler

Social morality within Hedda Gabler dictated that a women should be content doing household chores and caring for men. The problem of Hedda Gabler illuminates the universal problem of woman in a society built by men.  Hedda, once the best catch in town, is a woman restricted by Victorian values and trapped in a loveless marriage with a boring, boring man. Her only solace is manipulating others, which she does about 94% of the play. Tesman's character brings up questions about gender roles in marriage and in society. This is what made the play so radical at the time, and so terribly relevant today. I feel that Tesman is like a woman trapped in a man's body, just as Hedda is very much like a man trapped in a woman's body. Tesman may be the breadwinner in the marriage, but we almost get the feeling that he would rather be the homemaker. At the same time, Hedda is so bored and unhappy in her role as the homemaker that she shoots herself at the end of the play. She longs for the purpose and sense of control over her destiny that men in society have. We could go on and on about the position of women in the world today, what’s changed since the 19th century and what hasn’t. Their are still a lot of gender roles that exist today like

most CEO's and leaders of countries are male, in Education (Teachers) and child care sector are female dominated. The list could go on and on.

 

 

 

 

Freedom at Last

Have you ever thought about living life on edge? Always looking over your shoulder, just to feel a sharp sting across your back because you went to far or you did not wake up in time to catch the shuttle to go to work. That is what slaves had to fear everyday. Just like women in the 1800s, slaves were not aloud to speak out or disagree basically they had no voice. If they dare to do these things, they would be punished. "There must be no answering back to him; no explanation was allowed a slave, showing himself to have been wrongfully accused" (Douglass 245). The slaves did not have the right to have an opinion, if so the master's would feel they were being questioned by someone who was lower than them and it was not their place to speak up. But there was one person that wanted more out of life than just being a slave, his name was Frederick Douglass. He wanted to learn how to read. "A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master" (Douglass 250). Slaves did not know how to read or write, let alone know how old they were at the present time. Once his mistress, Mrs. Auld taught him his ABC's , he saw a light at the end of the tunnel of maybe he could learn how to read and eventually he did. He was reading everything that he could get his hands on especially a newspaper. From then on, there was no stopping him. Time changed when he decided to speak at the anti-slavery meeting. "I spoke but a few moments, when I felt degree of freedom,and said what i desired with considerable ease" (Douglass 289). From that moment on he felt that there could be freedom at last and he can finally be noticed as a human. Frederick Douglass did not want to be an oridinary slave. He knew his purpose was to learn to see his way out of slavery. He knew what he was capable of, went after it and made a change in the world. That is why I am so thankful for people like Frederick Douglass that made a way for me to have a better life.

Know you position..................

                In the play Hedda Gabler, written by Henrik Ibsen, George Tesman character shows his wife Hedda Tesman is the one who wears the pants in their household. George Tesman is an intelligent person who was raised by his aunts and Hedda Tesman comes from a military family (her dad was a General).  They are not a good match from the beginning. Hedda new that George was soft so she took his kindness for weakness. She replies, “Yes, I did. And then when he went around constantly begging with all his strength, begging for permission to let him take care of me, well I see why I shouldn’t take him up on it” (Ibsen 802).  In the play George and Hedda have a group of friends with different classes. The one that stands out the most is Barack (the Judge). He and Hedda seem to be close, so close that her husband George never pays attention to them flirting with one another. Hedda says, “I am so bored: six whole months never meeting with a soul who knew the slightest thing about our circle. No one we could talk with about our kinds of things” (Ibsen 801).  A normal person will not allow their wife to indulge in a conversation with another man unless he is a duck (weak). Hedda showed no respect for George, she treated him as though he was the woman and she was the man.

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler is a play written by Henrik Ibsen, during the literary era realism, that challenges society's morals from the use of a women to control the environment she is in. The literary era, realism focuses on the dark side of human nature and the truths which lie in between those natures. Higher classes, men, and women still have a separate role in their society in order to structure the realms in that period of time. In Hedda Gabler, Hedda gets away from her natural environment and then becomes part of a new social status and environment. She takes in all awareness to social means and turns to manipulation, control for power, and ambition to center herself right in the middle of all the action. From the jump Hedda takes control of the situation during conversation with Lovborg and Mrs. Elvsted, when Hedda says, "No, you don't, little Thea, not there. Come right over here next to me. I want to be in the middle between you" (Ibsen 813).  During the realism era women were struggling for power and a voice in society. As life got more complex then the more society became of order and power over that matter and energy as it became a patriarchy. Ibsen introduces realism in theater which gives a visual insight with the emotions, moral questioning, and truth behind people's condition. Hedda has a vision to better her life with beauty, ideas, and fulfillment to herself but through out the story she is still tied down to her status in life. Even though she has most of the control around her; it isn't until towards the second half of the play that the higher status judge character takes more control. Brack states, as he goes back and forth with Hedda, What if life suddenly should offer you some purpose or other, something to live for" (Ibsen 805)?

Game Over

The Hedda Gabler play took a slightly different turn than what I was expecting. Although I had guessed that there would be some kind of tragic ending, I actually thought things would end up working out entirely in Hedda's favor. Before reading Act Four, it was looking like Hedda would be the death of Testman, because he seemed to be very gullible throughout the play. Being gullible seems to be a weakness that usually ends up harming a character in the long run. Suprisingly, Testman lives and crazy Hedda ends up killing herself. Sooo not expecting that.
Their were two events in the story that caused Hedda to lose her power. The first let down for her occurs when she discovers that Eilert's wound was in a different place than she had expected. "That too! Oh absurdity! It hangs like a curse over everything I so much as touch (Ibsen 835)." The deal is sealed for her when Judge Brack reveals that he knows about the pistol and that him keeping quiet will be her only chance. "So I'm in your power now, Judge. You have a hold over me from now on (Ibsen 837)." This is really the last straw for her because until now she has had some kind of power over all of the other characters. Once she loses her control, the jig is up for Hedda!