English 104 - Introduction to Narrative
Dan Yingst
Shattered Viewpoints or Unification in Sorrow?
Category: 2 Essay: Carroll, Twain, Faulkner, Sebold | Dan Yingst
The narrative in Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Sebold’s The Lovely Bones is controlled by an omniscient presence that stands above the events in the novels and arranges what we see. In Faulkner’s work the controller is subtle and never directly addresses us. If it were not for...
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Posted by dyingst on December 08, 2003 at 11:54 PM
shifting to protect
Category: 10 Blog: The Lovely Bones | Dan Yingst
Susie’s place in heaven gives her a natural detachment from the events that take place on the Earth. Even so she feels the need to shift backwards and forwards in time in order to cushion the impact of certain events upon her. Nowhere is this more obvious then during her...
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Posted by dyingst on December 04, 2003 at 01:11 AM
Darl's Destruction
Category: 09 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Dan Yingst
Darl’s sudden descent into madness at the end of As I Lay Dying results in reversal of the roles the in the Bundren family. Darl, who had until this point, acted as the voice of reason and seemed to be the least biased of any of the characters has become...
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Posted by dyingst on November 24, 2003 at 09:23 PM
Jewel's Horse of Course
Category: 08 Blog: As I Lay Dying | Dan Yingst
In As I Lay Dying one of the most interesting issues is that of Jewel’s horse and his relationship to it. To Jewel the horse is a symbol of his independence and of his ability to own something for himself. In a world that is filled with poverty Jewel’s ability...
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Posted by dyingst on November 18, 2003 at 01:06 AM
Turncoat Tom
Category: 07 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Dan Yingst
The revelation by Tom that Jim was a free man during the entire period when Huck and Tom were attempting to liberate him was the most disturbing facet of the ending of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Tom admits, with no feeling of remorse or shame, that he knew that...
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Posted by dyingst on November 10, 2003 at 09:58 PM
Living with Liars
Category: 06 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Dan Yingst
Despite the fact that the Duke and the King are “low-down humbugs and frauds” (142) Huck allows them on the raft and, in fact, allows them the run of his little craft. Huck is used to lies and false identities and often uses them himself. Yet the lies of the...
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Posted by dyingst on November 03, 2003 at 11:13 PM
Living Large on a Little Raft
Category: 05 Blog: Huckleberry Finn | Dan Yingst
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck scorns the civilized life and instead opts to cruise down the river on his raft with Jim. This life suits Huck who is more accustomed to a natural way of life. In fact, he states that “all around, we lived pretty high” (76)....
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Posted by dyingst on October 27, 2003 at 11:10 PM
Ghosts of the Past
Category: 11 Essay: James and Bronte | Dan Yingst
The genre of the gothic novel, of which Wuthering Heights and The Turn of the Screw are both examples, is replete with images of the supernatural. While the influence of the supernatural is much more overt in James’s novel, the spirits of the past in Wuthering Heights exert just...
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Posted by dyingst on October 22, 2003 at 03:35 PM
the Confusing Caterpillar
Category: 04 Blog: Alice in Wonderland | Dan Yingst
When Alice comes in contact with “a large blue catepillar…smoking a long hookah” (34), she finds herself involved in a very odd and strained conversation. The Caterpillar does not facilitate the conversation at all; instead he opens up with a brusque “Who are you?” (35). The confusion that Alice is...
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Posted by dyingst on October 06, 2003 at 08:01 PM
Heathcliff's Transformation To Villainy
Category: 03 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Dan Yingst
Isabella’s assumption of the role of narrator in chapter 13 allows Bronte to transform Heathcliff from someone who we sympathize with as a victim into the victimizing villain of the novel. Until this part of the novel Heathcliff still has some vestiges of humanity that enable him to occupy...
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Posted by dyingst on September 29, 2003 at 05:20 PM
Dreaming
Category: 02 Blog: Wuthering Heights | Dan Yingst
Lockwood’s horrific dream in chapter three is a reflection of the soon-to-be revealed relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine. When Lockwood reaches for a tree branch which has broken through the window pane, he finds “a little, ice-cold hand” (20). The ghost cries that it is Catherine Linton, who was lost...
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Posted by dyingst on September 23, 2003 at 12:30 AM
misrepresenting by the lake
Category: 01 Blog: Turn of the Screw | Dan Yingst
In The Turn of the Screw the governess is often guilty of grossly misrepresenting a situation often, resulting in hysteria and mad fantasies of conspiracy. One particular example that stands out as a bit of paranoid hysteria is when the governess spots what she thinks is the phantom of Miss...
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Posted by dyingst on September 15, 2003 at 05:49 PM
practice
Category: Dan Yingst
The Zen philosopher Basho once wrote, 'A flute with no holes is not a flute. And a doughnut with no hole is a danish....
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Posted by dyingst on September 09, 2003 at 11:54 AM