Antony and Cleopatra - Duty

Does Cleopatra feel any duty to Antony? Does Antony feel any to Cleopatra? How is duty reflected in their actions toward each other?

Does Enobarbus die because he has betrayed his friend, or because he is ashamed of his own actions? Does Antony consider Enobarbus to be a friend? Is the relationship between military men and the men who lead them best characterized as friendship?

Hue hue... Duty

Anyway, here's my super late blog post about duty in Antony and Cleopatra.

I don't think Cleopatra feels any kind of duty toward Antony. I mean she left him at sea for fucks sake! She feels that her only duty is toward herself and Egypt, leaving a legacy, and becoming more powerful. I'm actually starting to doubt whether or not she even cared about Egypt in the first place. I'm also not sure if Antony feels any kind of duty toward Cleo. He definitely is lustful after her, but I don't think that can equate to duty. I think the only way that duty is reflected in their actions to one another is through their sexual favors. 

What pisses me off about this play is that Antony's duty should be toward Rome. He has all this power and influence, and he fucking loses it all because he can't fucking keep it in his pants. Literally he's a coward and weak willed. I don't care if I'm being hypocritical, because I don't know what I'd do in his situation, but certainly not that. He had the power and influence to get just about anything he wanted, be it in Rome or Egypt. He just needed to stop thinking with the wrong fucking head. 

Literally go fuck yourself Antony.

Ok, tangent over. Anyway, I think Enobarbus dies because he had to betray his friend. I don't think he would have died from betraying Antony for another reason, but it was due to Antony's total loss of reality and priorities, combined with the fact that he betrayed him. I am sure Antony considers Enobarbus as a friend. You don't rely on someone for so long without forming some kind of relationship with them (be it sexual ;) or otherwise). I think you also need to be friendly, if not brotherly, with the people that you fight and die with.

Anyway, that's my really late Antony and Cleopatra Blog. 

The Namesake - Relationships

Throughout The Namesake, Gogol had a few different girlfriends. What was Gogol looking for in each of these women? What attracted Gogol to them? Analyze all three of Gogol’s relationships. Why was each woman right for Gogol at the time, and why didn’t these relationships last? Hint: Think about his evolution as a character.

Ok so here's what I'm going to do: I'm just gonna have three separate sections for each of his girlfriends (and in one case, wife).

Ruth:
Ruth was his first serious girlfriend. I think what attracted Gogol to Ruth (and Maxine for that matter) is that they weren't anything like his parents. Ruth was white, independent, bookish, and everything his parents wouldn't have wanted in a partner (some other traits shared with Maxine). I think, at this stage in Gogol's life, he was rebellious, and though he might not have really thought about it, he knew that his relationship with Ruth was a bit of rebellion against his Indian heritage. I honestly can't say what Gogol was thinking about when he started dating Ruth, but I don't think it was anything serious or long term. I guess you could say he was "putting his toe in the water" with this one. I think it didn't work out because England changed Ruth. I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and also say that the distance between them reminded him of his parents and the distance between them and their Indian family. Ultimately, I think Ruth was good for Gogol because he finally got the chance to see what kind of woman could work for him.

Maxine:
Like Ruth, Maxine was a departure from normal. She also marks a huge transition in Gogol's character development. In the beginning of their relationship, he's attracted to her for the sex (and the booze, obviously). However, he slowly falls in love with her way of life. The carelessness and ease she goes about doing things. Every decision, whether whimsical or personal, is made with a sense of self-realization that Gogol does not possess. It think this also is what makes Maxine attractive for Gogol. In this relationship, Gogol was definitely looking for something: a way out. Whether from his Indian roots or something else, Maxine and her closely-knit family represented an familiarity with their place in the world that Gogol hoped would rub off on him. Unlike Ruth, Maxine stayed in New York, where he was, and did not depart to a foreign country to ultimately change. Ultimately, I actually think Maxine was bad for him. I think she was just fine, but I think their relationship confused Gogol even more, especially after his fathers death. He realized that his time with Maxine meant less time with his own family. I mean he literally spent his birthday with them, and didn't even call his mother. That's cold, man. 

Moushumi:
I think Moushumi's a bitch. There, I said it. However, Gogol did marry her, so I guess she can't be completely bad. I just still think about the ease at which she revealed Gogol's secret to her college friends while drunk, and the apparent absence of any remorse or how they would affect Gogol, and it pisses me off. Anyway, I think Gogol was looking, at this point in his life, to become closer with his family and his heritage. His father's death really fucked him up in that way. I think what attracted Gogol to her mainly, though, was her seeming indifference toward Indian tradition. As she said in the book, she wasn't a "good Indian housewife." Though she is Indian, this fact appealed to Gogol and, like his previous relationships, was what ultimately drew them apart. Though he was beginning to embrace the heritage of his family, she was not having any of that bullshit. I think it's pretty obvious why this one didn't last: she was fuckin on the side. But seriously, this one was all on Moushumi. She was the one going through the identity crisis. She was the one who was too tied to the roots she had sewn in France. 

In conclusion, Gogol's fucked. His relationships all end in shit, and I think he's going to die alone. 

Just kidding. But seriously I think these failed relationships are all signs that he:
a) needs to get out more
b) needs to date a traditional Bengali girl

The Namesake - Identity

In The Namesake, characters experience the interior conflict and tug-of-war between cultures and traditions. In an AICE Literature length response, discuss how the struggle of identity plays a major role in the novel.

Obviously the main character, Gogol, has a inner struggle of identity. This plays a role in Gogol's relationship with his parents, Maxine, and Moushumi. 

With Ashima, her identity is defined by her family. As she realizes that her family is leaving her, living their own lives, and "fighting the system," she realizes the inevitability of it, as it is the "American Way." 

Moushumi struggles with internal conflict after she marries a Bengali man, something she swore she'd never do. The fact that she did was bound to cause inner conflicts within her. 

In the book, Gogol's relationship to his Indian roots and name is something that is constantly in flux during the book. He fights with his identity with his name, changing it when he goes off to college. He fights his Indian heritage for his entire life, up until his fathers death and he marries Moushumi. Her inclusion into his life reflects his love for something different and "non-Indian," while at the same time bowing down to his heritage. Her Indian heritage, while self-suppressed like his, is still a tie to the life his parents envisioned for him. He realized that, as hard and as far as he "ran" from his heritage, it was not enough, and he ultimately reconciled with the Indian part of him, as well as his namesake.

Ashima was disappointed at her children's relationships. Especially Gogol's relationship with Maxine. Though Ashima warmed up to Maxine, it was only because she was worried Gogol would never get married "at a right age." I think it's a bit ironic that the want she has for her children to adopt Indian ideals and traditions is what ultimately drives them away in some respects. As she realizes this (while they're young), she and Ashoke start adopting American traditions: big birthday parties. Christmas, Thanksgiving, among others I'm sure. I feel her inner struggle is somewhat opposite of Gogol's, in that she wants her kids to keep living in a "traditional" Indian manner, while she herself slowly adopts the "American" way. She works at the local library. Gossips with other mom's about their kids. Sets up the Christmas tree even though the kids are out of the house. However, I believe she's found a much more "comfortable" medium in her place in the world. 

I'm going to ignore Moushumi's character as a child, because I don't think it's relevant (tell me if I'm wrong if we do blog response for these blogs). I wouldn't be talking about Moushumi if I didn't think her internal struggles were relevant. She's full of conflicting ideas and identities. She ran much farther away from her identity as an Indian woman, that I think she's the only one who's identity actually seriously changes in the book (at least when you only look at her as an adult). While in college, she literally ran to an entirely different culture, and immersed herself in it to the point where she couldn't be Indian. She was either American or French, but not Indian. I think her inner conflict was her relationship with Gogol. It was too similar to the life she had sworn to never be apart or, or enter into again. Once she saw the letter from that one French fry, I think she subconsciously leapt at the idea of being free from the culture she swore she would never be apart of. 

Ultimately, I think Moushumi is the one that goes through the most drastic and destructive identity crisis. Unlike Gogol or Ashima, however, I believe she wasn't even aware that the conflict was going on in the first place. Maybe because her identity and what she believed to be true about herself was so conflicting that it was easiest for her to compartmentalize, or because Julumpaloop didn't talk that much about it.

Either way, her relationship with Gogol was fucked from the beginning.  

The Namesake - Alienation

Blog - Discuss how alienation plays a major role in The Namesake. This should be a lengthy AICE Literature type response.

So since we're not allowed to use any dictionaries during the test (COUGH COUGH Kalli), I won't be defining what alienation is or why I think the definition works in specific situations. However, I believe alienation is when someone or a group of people become out of touch with their loved ones or those that they previously interacted with. If you look at the points characters feel alienated from one another, you see that alienation plays a major role in one specific thing: character development.

For example, there are two really good points where a character feels alienated from others. First, when Ashima first was on her own after her husbands death. Second, when Gogol's father died. When I looked at what each character was feeling at these points in the book, I realized they were both coming to grips with their surroundings and learning more about themselves as individuals. In essence, alienation is used in the book as a form of character development.

Going back to the examples I referenced. After Ashoke's death, and Ashima's subsequent time spent alone on Pemberton Road, Ashima was most certainly alienated. Gogol would only call once or twice a week, and Sonia was off in California doing god-know's what. This time was transformative for her, as she came to the realization that her alienation marked a turning point in her life. She was no responsible for anyone, or anything, other than herself. She realized how her children could relish in a life that they had utter control over. For example, she realized that her children's search for love before marriage (as unreasonable and foreign as it seemed), was something that she can appreciate. She also realized, through her alienation, that she would miss her life on Pemberton Road, as much as she detested it when she first moved there.

For Gogol, his alienation worked much in the same way. After his fathers death, he was alienated in his late father's apartment in Ohio. This period was transformative for Gogol. He realized things about his father that he did not previously know. His brief period of isolation gave him the chance to become close to his father and family. He developed to realize his importance and closeness to his family that grew out of his isolation.

Ultimately, the role of alienation in this book was to provide the characters with a chance to realize the truths in their lives and grow from them.

Speaking of Love...

I think love comes from proximity. It comes from deciding that you want to spend your time with someone during the times you would normally spend alone. It's sharing your life with someone, and living through it together. A lot of it is about cooperation and understanding, obviously, but I think a lot of it does depend on personality and whether or not you... "click." This seems like a cop-out answer but it's literally impossible to give a definite answer unless you'll accept the whole "people just love one another because of a complex set of chemical reactions in their brains" argument.

So I don't think there's a time limit as to how long you need to be with someone until you "love" them. As I said in the previous paragraph, it all depends on how well you "click." I personally haven't loved anyone but myself, so I guess I'd have to have a twin to love someone else but me.

I don't want to say the idea of soulmates are nonsense, but I do think someone can have multiple soul mates. It's like a Venn Diagram. You aren't restricted to one person, but if you find one I think you really can have one. The concept of a soul is much more complicated, but I do think they have some kind of play in who we fall in love with and why.

I guess I like to rant more about love than I like talking about it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Twelfth Night - Social Class

So I think Auguecheek stays with Toby at first on a whim. But I think he realized he had a chance with Olivia, he wanted to stay to try and move up in class. But in the beginning, he definitely was there just to party and hang out with his drinking buddy. I think this is due to his sudden change of mind.

It's easy: Malvolio's a dick and he doesn't treat any of the other people well. He orders them around as if he's better than them, and doesn't respect them.

I think Malvolio, like Auguecheek, was only into Olivia for the status. Maybe he thought they would get married, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. If he married her, he would've had the power he thought he had over Toby, Maria, and Auguecheek. Or he would've been rich af and that's why.

Orsino says that Sebastian's blood is pure because he has enough class to marry Olivia. It matters because, at this time, it wasn't legal to marry outside of your social class. At this time it was all about social class, which is why it's important that Sebastian's blood is pure.

Twelfth Night - Gender

Viola portrays herself as a boy for the simple reason to win Duke Orsino's affection. This easily creates a variety of comedic moments from the play. From the moment that the Duke and Cesario share that was witnessed by the Fool. Viola realizes that she is treated with a certain... respect that she realizes that women don't have. In the first Act, after visiting Olivia for the first time, she realizes this. Maybe it's the allure of being a completely different person, or something else, but her response to being treated as a man is generally positive.

Shakespeare's political commentary by making a man, play a woman, playing a man in the 1600's was most certainly a form of social rebellion. I don't think this challenges the norms of today's life in any major way, but most certainly was a talking point back then. Like the quote from Orsino:
ORSINO
Dear lad, believe it;
For they shall yet belie thy happy years
That say thou art a man. Diana's lip
Is not more smooth and rubious, thy small pipe
Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound,
And all is semblative a woman's part. (1.4.32-37)

This is a strangely... descriptive analysis of Cesario's girlish attributes. He seems to be attracted to this, and consequently makes us question our own personal attractions.

Orsino says that women can't love to the same extent as a man. This is completely false if you look at the text. Especially if you think that Orsino actually loved Olivia, or was just in love with the idea of loving her. Cesario / Viola was absolutely in love with Orsino, and Olivia was absolutely in love with Cesario / Viola. I don't think women have any less capacity to love in this play than men.

Belch convinces Auguecheek to fight Cesario so he thinks he has a chance with Olivia. His "manliness" would increase were he to defeat Cesario in the duel. This suggests that Belch's idea of being a "man" included being more skillfully or physically inclined.