Every time I look into a mirror I check my hair, maybe inspect my teeth to see if I do not have food wedged up my tooth I would not want people to observe as I smile. That is pretty much the reason I use a mirror. Oh wait, I also utilize one as I shave. That is it. I did not believe there could be a more profound way of looking at ones reflection. Henry Miller’s The Tropic Of Capricorn changed my view of who I was actually looking at. Imagine reading something so powerful it made you question the meaning on why you and specifically you were given life on this earth and why you were given the specific life you are living and what will eventually turn out to be your legacy? If I have your head spinning I apologize but that was the same reaction …show more content…
The book is very sexual, it has many sexual terms with the likes of “cunt”, “pussy” and “cock” being a few. I first see this play off in page 59 when Valeska comes over to the Miller household to take care of Henry’s daughter while his wife is at the doctors getting ready to go into the surgery room for an abortion. Miller who stays with Valeska to watch his daughter soon have sex while the kid sleeps. Instead of focusing on Valseska and their sex he remembers his grandfather sitting on the bench warning his mother Henry was reading too much, he also thought of the attack on San Juan Hill by the Rough Riders and even a trip to the Navy Yard accompanied by his father when he was a kid. The fact that he thought of all these memories as he had an affair with the woman he was supposedly “crazy” about is astonishing. It lead me to believe that Henry thought much more of sexual intercourse than we regular people did. He continues to have his affairs including a one night stand with Pauline, a minor who happened to be Jewish and homeless and also an Egyptian colleague who also happened to be of Jewish descent. I believe Henry views sex as a way to connect himself to the world spiritually. He explains that most of what surrounds him is in the midst of chaos. The world was tearing apart, he was surrounded by failure and that he too would fail in life because of it. After living with these thoughts his whole life even as a kid, Miller was able to view sexual intercourse as the portal from which he abandons the physical world and floats toward spirituality in search to find the true meaning of life, the true meaning of
Henry's first-person narrative is the most important element of these stories. Through it he recounts the events of his life, his experiences with others, his accomplishments and troubles. The great achievement of this narrative voice is how effortlessly it reveals Henry's limited education while simultaneously demonstrating his quick intelligence, all in an entertaining and convincing fashion. Henry introduces himself by introducing his home-town of Perkinsville, New York, whereupon his woeful g...
Through the novel Henry’s conversations with Dorian and Basil Hallward depict him as an invested disciple of Pater. Henry’s insight into to Pater’s philosophy can best be seen when he states that, “the only horrible thing in this world is ennui” or boredom (Wilde 220). Henry echoes Pater’s distaste for the formation of habits and not having new experiences that bring the individual out of their daily rut. Henry is the one who advises Dorian to live his life to fullest and to appreciate art and beauty, but the reader is not privy to Henry’s private life or his internal thoughts. While Henry accurately represents Pater’s ideals through his speech the reader cannot assume that he also enacts them in his daily life. The reader is reminded of their lack of insight into Henry’s character when Basil continually states “you don’t mean a single word of all that, Harry” (200). Basil is a close friend to Henry and from the beginning of the novel Basil is not blind to flaws of Henry’s character. In fact, he is fearful that Henry’s influence will corrupt Dorian. Due to the readers disconnect to Henry’s character the words of ...
Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale" should be tragic, because a lot of horrible things happen to the characters. The carpenter's wife is disloyal to him, sleeping with others and making fun of him with Nicholas. Also, he is depicted as a fool. However, readers get a humorous feeling from the story, rather than feeling sorry for the carpenter's unfair life. Chaucer makes the whole story come across as comic rather than tragic. This humor is created by the Miller's narration, the use of irony, the cartoon-like characters, and the twists of plot. These elements combine to produce an emotional distance which enhances the comic effect.
The Miller’s only seem to connect sexually after they have fantasized and role-played as the Stones’. Not once in the short story did Raymond Carver describe any mutual attraction, until the first time Bill returned from the Stones’ apartment. Once he arrived home, Arlene asked, “What kept you?” “Nothing. Playing with Kitty,” he said, and went over to her and touched her breasts. “Let’s go to bed, honey,” he said (pg.137). Nothing is written without a reason, which is why Carver wrote this after the first time Bill began his fantasy. His audience is now aware that this was a rare occurrence and Bill came home satisfied with himself after he role-played as Harriet. This occurs again after Bill returned from the Stones’ apartment later on in the evening. “What’s been keeping you?” Arlene said. “You’ve been over here more than an hour.” “Have I really?” he said. “Yes, you have,” she said. “I had to go to the toilet,” he said. “You have your own toilet,” she said. “I couldn’t wait,” he said. “That night they made love again” (pg.138). After every visit to the Stones’ apartment, the Millers engage in sexual activity. The audience is led to believe that the Millers are not a completely happy or satisfied couple until they act in their fantasy. What’s more concerning than anything is that neither Miller offers or even considers to possibly fantasize
I believe that this book of Solomon speaks very much to the culture of American Christians in general. We are saturated in the American culture that glorifies sex. Sexual innuendos are in every pop song, TV show, movie, and magazine. Unfortunately many American Christians believe that it is okay to dabble in this culture.
There is a clear difference between procreative sex and having sex only for pleasure. “Hedonistic sex is an act driven by human desire and obtained through sexual power” (Ivie). As Joyce was well aware of the human need for sex in both ways stated, he used it to create a bond between the reader and the characters, in which he was extremely successful. Ulysses is centered on sexuality. Every central character can easily be connected to the term. Sex is essential to the human race in terms of procreating and also in terms of pe...
Henry suffers from retrograde amnesia due to internal bleeding in the part of the brain that controls memory. This causes him to forget completely everything he ever learned. His entire life is forgotten and he has to basically relearn who he was, only to find he didn’t like who he was and that he didn’t want to be that person. He starts to pay more attention to his daughter and his wife and starts to spend more time with them.
"They turn casually to look at you, distracted, and get a mild distracted surprise, you're gone. Their blank look tells you that the girl they were fucking is not there anymore. You seem to have disappeared.(pg.263)" In Minot's story Lust you are play by play given the sequential events of a fifteen year old girls sex life. As portrayed by her thoughts after sex in this passage the girl is overly casual about the act of sex and years ahead of her time in her awareness of her actions. Minot's unique way of revealing to the reader the wild excursions done by this young promiscuous adolescent proves that she devalues the sacred act of sex. Furthermore, the manner in which the author illustrates to the reader these acts symbolizes the likeness of a list. Whether it's a list of things to do on the weekend or perhaps items of groceries which need to be picked up, her lust for each one of the boys in the story is about as well thought out and meaningful as each item which has carelessly and spontaneously been thrown on to a sheet of paper as is done in making a list. This symbolistic writing style is used to show how meaningless these relationships were but the deeper meaning of why she acted the way she did is revealed throughout the story. Minot cleverly displayed these catalysts in between the listings of her relationships.
Many people in the world get into an almost unbreakable routine, shielding themselves from the real world. We wake up, brush our teeth, go to school with the same people, go home, and do it all over again. Once there is a roadblock in the way, it forces us to step outside our shell and look at others views for a change. American mythologist, writer, and lecturer,Joseph Campbell once said,”We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” It is the act of noticing others words and actions that will reshape our lives for the better. In “Secret Samantha” and “Sol Painting, Inc.” the authors suggest that observing someone else’s perspective and taking the time to understand others can be mankind's greatest
In today’s heterosexual and patriarchal society sex and sexual desires revolve around men, and Hoagland sets out seven patterns showing how this is the case. Sex is thought of as a “powerful and uncontrollable urge” and male sexuality therefore is a basic component to male health, sexual acts show male conquest and domination, sexual freedom gives men total access to and over women, rape is, by this logic, natural and women who resist a man’s advances are “‘frigid’”, sex involves losing control and sexual desire, when described as erotic, “involves a death wish (eros)”. The bottom line is that in today’s heterosexual and patriarchal society sex is all about men having a natural power over women; sex involves a total loss of control which creates a split between reason and emotion since being in control is a matter of reason controlling emotions, “we tend to believe that to be safe we must be rational and in control but to...
The Miller's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer is a mirror of medieval society particularly in the way it depicts the relationships between men and women as well as giving a realistic portrait of working class people during the middle ages. Alison, the main character illustrates how a woman was able to use her sex through her actions of deceit to many characters. Popular belief holds that courtly love was prevalent during the medieval period; however The Miller's Tale provides a more realistic look into sexual relationships through its use of infidelity and sexual humor. Chaucer's characters are typical middle class workers rather than elite nobility. In addition, many of the characters seem heartless and corrupt. Alison's character is far away from most others in her mere selfishness followed by inappropriate humor leading to Nicolas and his "injury." She responds to her husband's jealousy and protective nature by a flirtatious demeanor. As most literature does, The Miller's Tale has a moral even though it's slanted and the punishable party is no t appropriately disciplined.
Henry’s character is introduced in the movie when his cousin Mark, who is just about the same age as him, suddenly comes to stay with their family because his father had to go away on business. Mark’s mother recently passed away right in front of his eyes and he was still dealing with the repercussions of it all. Dealing with feelings of loneliness, Mark immediately developed a close bond with Henry. He found Henry to be adventurous and nice but was not aware of who Henry really was and what he was experiencing. At first, Henry seemed like a decent young boy who enjoyed experimenting with new things. On ...
During the Middle Ages using the method of courtly love was very common. It was defined as a way of worshiping a woman to get their attention and love in a noble way by doing heroic deeds or just by giving the women gifts. Back then the most known courtly lovers were the knights for being known as very chivalrous and noble men. In “the Miller’s Tale”, the use of courtly love is the complete opposite of what it usually is. The story telling the story, in other words the miller makes a complete parody of courtly love and what it stands for, he makes it seem very vulgar by the way he talks about the characters in a very sexual manner and the deeds that the characters do throughout the story. I think this story was made for that purpose, to make a fool of what courtly love really is, because in reality the miller thinks that courtly love is just a waste of time and thinks it’s just foolishness to believe that love is really like that.
The monster in the mirror of Greek Antiquity, expressed in the myth of Medusa, shows the long trajectory of the desire to gaze on what is forbidden; to dwell on the spectacle that is the ‘monster’. Lacan’s theory of the Mirror Stage, however, makes us keenly aware that the mirror with which we see the ‘other’ is only - in fact - distorting our own image to reveal the monstrous self within. Both Stoker’s novel and Coppola’s film, in this sense, are mirrors which expose the missing monster in the mirror to be no one “except [our]selves.”
In Book I, the army is still waiting for action, and the world is one of boredom with men drinking to make time go by and whoring to get women. War itself is a male game; ”no more dangerous to me myself than war in the movies” (34). Love is also a game. When Henry meets and makes his sexual approach to Catherine Barkley he is only trying to relieve war’s boredom; ”I knew I did not love Catherine Barkley or had any idea of loving her. This was a game, like bridge, in which you said things instead of playing cards” (28).