Wild Duck #3

Ultimately, Gregers is the instigator for Hedvig shooting herself. Thus, he should take most of the blame. If Gregers had not mentioned that Gina had an affair to Hjalmar then Hedvig would still feel like Hjalmar still loved her and the suicide could have been prevented. So basically, Gregers thought he was helping, in reality, he was hurting the Ekdal family. I say Gregers is not completely at fault because if Gina had been open and told Hjalmar up front that she had an affair with Old Werle and that he might not be Hedvig's father then this situation could have been avoided. Therefore, Old Werle is part of the blame and should take more responsibility because he could have stayed loyal and not have had an affair with Gina. Lastly, Hedvig is at fault, too. I understand she felt like Hjalmar did not love her anymore and that saddened her, but she did not have to commit suicide. This problem could have been resolved, but she decided to be selfish and take her own life. Gregers, overall needed to take more of the blame and the fault because he was the main cause of the Ekdal's family problems. I believe that Henrik Ibsen reveals that hiding the truth, but telling the truth, too all the time is destructive as shown through the Ekdal family that got devastated.

Wild Duck #2

Motifs play a significant role in the development of the characters in the Wild Duck. The motifs of death, sickness and illness are caused from lies that are created. Death is portrayed through the recurrence of the pistol. The purpose of the pistol and how Hedvig talks about a book she read about death once, all contribute to the foreshadowing of Hedvig killing herself. Also, Ibsen mentioned the motif of decay in regard to alcohol and how Hedvig's eyes get worse, or decay. Hjalmar talks about retouching photographs when he talks about Hedvig. He wants to shelter her, and re-shape her life. Hedvig has the mindset that staying at home is the best scenario where she can "help Daddy and Mother" (163). I noticed Relling, a doctor, talks of disease in the play. He says that Gregers has "got a disease in his system" (177). Relling states that Gregers has a "moralistic fever", as well. Relling sees through Gregers and finds him to be sick because he is such a man of truth. Later, when Hjalmar is ill, Relling prescribes to him the "standard one. I try to keep up the life-lie in him" (202). Relling does not like Gregers because he believes in the exact opposite viewpoint. Ibsen says through Relling that the truth is not necessary all the time, and it can be destructive because of the way he portrays how the Ekdal family is torn apart by the truth.

Wild Duck Journal #1

Gregers Werle, is such a man of knowing the absolute truth that he crosses boundaries to attain this truth. He reveals to the Ekdal family the complete stories, some untold, of their life. He brings up to Hjalmar that Gina had an affair many years back. He leaves Hedvig wondering who her real father is, because she originally thinks that Hjalmar is her real father. Gregers says he only brings it up because he wants the truth, and only the truth. Thus, Gregers is truth seeking and an idealist. He has a false conception of himself because he thinks that it is his job to notify everyone of the absolute truth. In reality, though, he is hurting others. He is the instigator of Hedvig shooting herself. Also, Gregers faces an emotional boundary in regard to his relationship with his father. While Gregers is gone to Hoidal for work, communication between him and his father are brief and only occur through business letters. It is clear that their relationship suffered while they were away from each other because they get into an argument quickly over Gregers becoming a partner in his fathers business. Similarly, Hjalmar struggles with his relationship between him and his father, Old Ekdal. For example, when at the party Hjalmar intentionally turns away when his father walks in so he does not see him. Also, the Ekdal's may not be as well off as the Werle's because Old Ekdal works for the Werle's and they do not want them to stay in his house, which could be a social issue.

We Journal #3

The language experiences an apparent change for D-503 in the last entry of the novel. Up until this point D-503 is still struggling with his internal conflict. Although, in the last entry the sentences  becomes more straight forward. D-503's style of writing emulates that of the beginning, in the first entry. In the middle part of the book D-503 changes from his mechanical and clear writing to more jumbled and confusing sentences because of the conflict that he is experiencing inside of him. At the conclusion of the novel, D-503 returns to his old way of writing his thoughts, similarly to the first entries, "However, on the Fortieth cross-town avenue, we have succeeded in erecting a temporary barrier of high-voltage waves. And I hope that we shall conquer. More than that- I am certain we shall conquer. Because Reason must prevail" (232). I noticed that Zamyatin capitalizes "R" in reason, this could signify that reason represents a higher being and is the leader of the society of one-state.  This can infer that D-503 has accepted the benefactor and the controlling government. Thus, the short sentences illuminate that he has accepted and come to peace with the "unfreedom" that the government gives the people of one-state. Also, as throughout the entire book, Zamyatin uses figurative language frequently in the last third of the book.

I noticed a recurrence of the motif of the color blue towards the last section of the book. Additionally, blue still embodies the same thing for D-503, which is calmness, "The little blue flowers stir, bulge. What if I were made of glass, and he could see that in some three or four hours..." (152). In this quote I see D-503 associating flowers with the color blue, giving it a peaceful connotation. Another motif that was noted again was nature, specifically birds and insects. D-503 thinks to himself "Slowly, just overhead- a bird. I see: it is alive, like me. Like a man it turns its head right, left, and black, round eyes drill into me [...] A dark insect with tiny, transparent wings crawls along the back, and the back twitches to drive it off" (158). Since there are no animals in one-state, D-503 is becoming more aware of his surroundings outside of one-state. In the second half of the dystopian D-503 pays more attention to the weather and animals just outside of the green wall, this is before he goes on the integral.

The setting changes for a good amount of timr to being on the spaceship, the integral. The goal of the integral is to take over other planets through the use of the integral. I find the spaceship fascinating because at this period in time space travel was not very close to completion and nobody would accomplish this feat for another 50 years to come. The one-state is taking a leap of faith through the use of the integral. D-503 is aware of the possibility that this is a perhaps a dangerous mission and finds it very interesting as he says, "'Do you realize how wonderful it is to fly, not knowing where-to fly- no matter where... And soon it will be who knows what's to come?'" (200). D-503 seems to find it fun to not have a definite and planned out schedule. In contrast, the society of one-state is exactly the opposite of this where everything is organized and one's schedule is based off of the tables of hours. D-503 may be experiencing what it is like to not be completely restricted and controlled by the government.   

We Journal #2

The language in the second third of the dystopian, We undergoes a subtle change. The novel is focusing more on the internal conflict that D-503 is experiencing. He keeps contemplating what his real self is because in his dreams he is someone different. I believe his struggle is illuminated through the varied sentence structure, "The lecture. How strange that the voice coming from the gleaming apparatus is not metallic, as usual, but somehow soft, furry, mossy. A woman's voice. I imagine her as she must have been once upon a time: tiny, a little bent hook of an old woman, like the one at the Ancient House" (109). The syntax of this passage is complex. Zamyatin uses anywhere from sentences that are two words long to sentences that are twenty eight words long. This syntax represents D-503's struggle in finding his identity because his imagination creates two different perceptions of himself. D-503 repeatedly thinks about the imaginary number. I believe he is fascinated by imaginary numbers because of his interest in his own imagination. I noticed that Zamyatin still uses similes to describe the conflict D-503 is having, "All that had happened yesterday whirled like a hurricane within me..." (92). We see that Zamyatin uses figurative language, typically similes, when D-503 is talking about something of importance.  

The motif of the color blue is further developed in the second third of the novel. It still serves the same function of representing peace and calmness for D-503, "My thoughts tick quietly, with metallic clarity. An unseen aero carries me off into the blue heights of my beloved abstractions" (115). D-503 associates blue with "beloved abstractions", which has a serene connotation. This helps to show that D-503 has not completely changed, but that his identity still has not fully developed. I feel like colors do not serve as big of a purpose as they did in the first third of the novel, though because the other colors are not mentioned as much as previously. I noticed that the outside of One-State is mentioned frequently throughout this section. "I raised my hand, the yellow eyes blinked, backed away, and disappeared among the greenery. The paltry creature! What absurdity-that he could possibly be happier than we are! Happier than I, perhaps; but I am only an exception, I am sick" (93). D-503 starts to question what it would be like to be outside of the confinement of One-State.  He ponders whether the society he lives in is better than being out of One-State.  

More culture connections became prominent in the second third of We. Many times the characters, such as D-503, refer back to what the ancients did. Also, other characters look down upon the ancients because they feel like the society that they are currently living in is much improved.  The color red is used to allude communism in the novel, "The dark-red walls of the ancient house were already before me" (93). I didn't realize this until I was a little further into the book. My knowledge on the setting of the first third of the novel was limited because I hadn't read the entire book so I wasn't entirely sure what it was. Now that I am in the heart of the novel I can see that this book is set in One-state that has no wildlife or nature of any sort, "Man ceased to be a savage only when we had built the Green Wall, when had isolated our perfect mechanical world from the irrational, hideous world of trees, birds, animals..."(93). The Green Wall is a barrier set to purposely not let any of nature in because it infringes on the "perfect" society of One-state. Interestingly enough, D-503 sees a creature outside the green wall and wonders if that creature is happier than his society.

We Journal #1

In the dystopian novel We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, the setting is designed to represent the confinement that the characters live in. It is set in the future to encompass the dystopian aspect of the novel. It is important to know that in One-state almost everything is made out of glass, and therefore the characters lose a sense of privacy and freedom, because the glass is transparent. Additionally, One-state is entirely based on the society as a whole, which is why it's called we. It is therefore not focused on individuality. People have names that have a prefix and a number. A male will have a consonant and an odd number; whereas, women have a vowel which is followed by an even number. D-503 seems to praise to the society that he lives in. Furthermore, D-503 says that, "In half a minute she'll be here, for our daily walk" (4). This is an example that shows that D-503 follows a precise and organized schedule for his day.

I noticed some prominent motifs, such as light and color. D-503 uses colors often when he is expressing his emotions. Colors are blended in with all situations in the novel. Blue represents peace, "I woke: soft, bluish light, glimmer of glass walls, glass chairs and table. This calmed me..." (32). Also, the sky is described by the perfect blue that surrounds One-State. D-503 uses the color yellow when describing I-330. Pink is used when talking about women, especially his partners. The "pink coupons" and when he talks about women's "pink lips", which all contribute to this motif. Green is used when talking about that wall surrounding One-state to show the lack of freedom the society possesses. Lastly, light is used throughout the novel in a variety of ways. This illuminates that not all aspects of D-503's life and others living in One-state are being completely controlled.

The language is creative and uses some figurative language. An example is shown when Zamyatin uses a simile, "And the brass rhythms: "'Ta-ta-ta-tam! Ta-ta-ta-tam!' Like brass stairs gleaming in the sun, and every step taking you higher and higher, into the dizzying blue...." (5). I believe Zamyatin uses more complex language to exemplify the futuristic setting and the complicated math aspect of the novel. Certain sentences can be confusing, but the overall language is very clear. D-503 uses mathematics in his speech many times, which could emphasize the importance of math that is placed on this society. He uses math terms such as parabolas and tangent line to describe the face of a person often. Through the setting, motifs, and the language Zamyatin provides a way to get involved with the nightmare-like society that We is set in.