All Quiet on the Western Front Chapter 3 Response

Author’s Note: Throughout the first three chapters in All Quiet in the Western the horror of war has proved to be a major motif/theme. This inspired me to write a poem about my perspective of war.  

Here comes the shore

Blue water, red blood

Young men, they scream

As they flee the flood

Officers shout orders

But little is heard

Just booms and explosions

And dying men’s last words

To look upon this wasteland

To look, yet not to see

That is this world’s puzzle

It’s very strange to me

War brings only death

It banishes all light

Humanity persists however

And so our armies fight

Resources and money

Pour into our wars

Wouldn’t it be better,

To spend it on the poor?

But no, we are like madmen

Destroying what we have

To kill another man

Is to kill your other half

And to murder that man’s family

Is to sign away your life

The devil has your soul now

Go, wander in strife

War is for the wicked

Ask the forgotten dead

A young prospective life

Ended, shot in the head

All Quiet on the Western Front Chapter 2 Response

Throughout the beginning chapters of All Quiet on the Western Front, the author Erich Remarque starts to develop many vital themes. Although all of his themes were meaningful and important, the theme of discipline was the most important theme thus far.

Erich Remarque begins his novel by educating the reader on their experiences in the war. Remarque explains how important it was to follow orders, or be disciplined. For instance, he explained the importance of discipline when he said “salutes, springing to attention, parade-marches, presenting arms, right wheel, left wheel, clicking the heels, insults, and a thousand pettifogging details.” There are so many rules that soldiers needed to follow and those were just some of them. Remarque also stresses discipline through deep diction in some parts of the novel. Through his diction and writing, he stresses that no one will survive or win the war without discipline. If no one in their army was disciplined, they would have no chance in the war.

Jekyll and Hyde #4

Author’s Note: What drives the curiosity of mankind is a bold topic, one of which few people can really understand. What fuels a man’s curiosity is inscrutable. Everyone has had a curious feeling that has driven them to do something, but what really is that feeling? In Jekyll and Hyde, what drove Utterson to investigate Hyde? Why did Jekyll experiment and transfigure into an evil beast? The reason why humans are curious might always be baffling, but for all we know, it lives in everyone and it definitely proved to be my inspiration for this response. I saw it as a major theme to Jekyll and Hyde and really enjoyed writing on it.

           The morbid curiosity expressed in Jekyll and Hyde proved to be one of the major themes to me. At some points, it seemed as if Mr. Utterson would risk life and limb to find out about the atrocious Hyde. Whether it was about the trampling or the—what seemed to be—fake check that Hyde wrote, Utterson was very persistent in his investigations. The effect of Utterson’s willingness to know was shown in the beginning of the book when Stevenson writes, “Hitherto it had touched him on the intellectual side alone; but now his imagination also was engaged, or rather enslaved” (48). Stevenson’s strong word choice of “enslaved” really has an effect on the reader. Utterson’s mind and imagination was not just stuck on the topic, it was enslaved. Obviously curiosity has something to do with parts of your mind, but Stevenson displayed curiosity like it went beyond the mind! Yes, this may seem baffling, but it is what I gathered from his work.

            Another example of the addictive curiosity demonstrated in this novella was in Jekyll’s incongruous experiment. Jekyll tried and tried again to create a potion that could change him into a totally different individual. Jekyll knew the dangers that could come of this; he even said, “I knew well that I risked death” (106). He risked his life for this experiment because he knew that if he didn’t try it, he would never know. He would never have had the slightest clue to what the potion might create, but unfortunately he did discover what the potion was capable of.  Curiosity got the best of Henry Jekyll.

Jekyll and Hyde #3

Author’s note: Obviously over the course of this novella, duality of man or good vs. evil has proved to be a recurring motif. As soon as I picked up on this motif I felt motivated to write about it so here is my analysis of it!

Over and over again, duality of man can been seen as a significant motif in the Jekyll and Hyde novella. What Stevenson suggests through this motif is that every one man is in fact two entirely different people; one good and one evil. If the evil side is repressed long enough, it proves to be uncontrollable once it breaks loose. We definitely see this in Hyde throughout the story. He was always hidden in Jekyll, and then when he was finally created and released, he proved to be an uncontrollable force. Not only did Hyde cause pain and destruction, but he made Jekyll pay for it. Hyde’s acts haunted and made the reputable man feel guilty. Jekyll and Hyde are the same people, but opposites, which made Stevenson’s motif all the better.

At one point in the novella, Jekyll describes his life as a perennial war between each of his two sides—just like the classic matchup of good versus evil—thus the duality of man. Jekyll had to be careful not to give into his counterpart, or things could have been ghastly.

I agree with Stevenson’s motif, but I agree with it in a much weaker state. I believe that people have a good and bad side, but I would never like to believe that there are people with two sides as strong as Jekyll’s. Good or evil, there is still a side in you that is a lot different than the person you know. A side that has been left undiscovered. A side that is imperceptible. A side that wants out.

Jekyll and Hyde #2

Author’s Note: In this part of Jekyll and Hyde, fog proves to be very foreshadowing. It also seems to symbolize darkness and evil very well. I found that fog and darkness foreshadow evil throughout this section, while the light reflects well-being and kindness.

Dark and wet upon the ground,

Evil shadows all around.

Cold and evil, day and night

To fight is futile, so is flight.

Sight is stolen, sound is gone

Foreshadow of the dark to come.

Creeping silent through the dark,

Bringing misery, hope is stark.

The fog clings quiet, an ancient ghost

It covers land, from coast to coast.

With shades dark black and shades bright white

It opposes itself, like day and night.

You look above and see no sun,

The fog has come and taken fun.

You look ahead but don’t see day

The fog has come, night’s here to stay.

When daylight fails, dark shows it’s hand

You can’t fight evil, you’re just one man.

One cannot run nor pray to cope

The fog has come, and killed all hope.

Jekyll and Hyde #1

Author’s Note: The motif, “the door” is referred to frequently in the opening chapters of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and it was my influence to write this poem. Yes it’s there, but what does it actually mean? It seems as if Jekyll turns into Hyde when he goes through the door. I found it to symbolize the change that can take place when one walks through the door. There's a change, but you are still you.

How can one pass through a door?

Stay the same, but exist no more?

Appearance collapses within itself,

A change of mind, and nothing else.

Remain as first, yet be anew,

The door is unlocked inside of you.

Inside there lies your other half,

Silenced, in eerie wrath.

Comfort fails with slightest noise,

Taking laughter, ending joy.

Now awakened it takes your place,

the same person, but a different face.

Within the door lives always two,

Vastly different, and yet still you.

In a world of shadows and light combined,

Two souls dwell within one mind.

To kill the dark is to kill the light.

A civil war is a hopeless fight.

Shut the door, leave not a crack,

Close it tight and don’t look back.