Connection #6 (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)

In the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young, James Joyce tells the story of a young boy named Stephen Dedalus and his journey in growing as both a man and an artist. Stephen grew up sheltered from life’s troubles by his family and his Catholic governess. Stephen was a timid boy who had trouble making decisions for himself – this was apparently seen as he was often bullied by other classmates while at boarding school. As the novel progressed, Stephen’s family, where he found complete comfort, began to lose ground financially. Stephen was removed from his current boarding school and attended a cheaper school. Stephen’s father also changed. He often would drink heavily around Stephen and flirt with other women to cope with his problems. Stephen soon too began to develop problems of his own, and instead of turning to God, he turned to the “pleasures” that prostitutes gave him. This change in lifestyle not only began affecting Stephen’s spirituality, but his schoolwork as well. It wasn’t until he heard an old teacher lecture about hell, did Stephen decide to turn his life around. After growing as a man and realizing the mistakes of his past, Stephen attended “the university” and began to work as an artist. Stephen soon found out that he enjoyed being alone and wandering the countryside of Ireland more than being in a classroom filled with friends. Stephen no longer looked at women as “beasts,” but instead saw them as human beings. Stephen found himself engaging in conversations with women and enjoyed talking with them – and with one girl in particular, Emma. As the novel came to a close, Stephen finally developed the courage to talk to the one that he admired his entire life. Stephen found that he no longer needed someone to tell him how to approach her, or even what to say, he did it all on his own and had a wonderful conversation. Although the conversation only turned out to be just that, Stephen’s life came full-circle as he finally matured as a man and grew as an artist. The connection to the culminating question……

Connection #5 (Fences)

In the play Fences, written by August Wilson, the main character Troy Maxson undergoes the troubles and hardships that African Americans faced during the 1950’s and into the 1960’s. Troy and Bono, his long-time friend from work, share stories and reminisce about their week of work every Friday over a cold beer. Troy and Bono share a relationship that is unparalleled in the play, an even stronger relationship than that existed between Troy and his wife and Troy and his own son. Growing up as an African American, Troy learned that nothing could be taken for granted and that you had to always work hard for what you get. While these clichés may sound exactly that, they were life for Troy. It was this attitude that he had that caused Troy to act the way he did towards his family. The title Fences has multiple meanings. The play took place in Troy’s backyard, which at the beginning of the book is fence-less. Troy enjoys the freedom of not being bound to his home or his family; instead he partakes in a different lifestyle. He enjoys worldly pleasures. Troy refuses to give into his wife’s request to keep the family safe and close-together. Troy also refuses to allow his son Cory to play football. Troy, an ex-baseball player himself, believes that sports were his downfall and that Cory should do something more productive in his life. As the play progresses, Troy learns that he is about to become a father again, however, with a woman that is not his wife. Troy’s decisions dug a huge hole, and as he quickly found out, he could not dig his way out of. Troy finally finishes the fence in his backyard, but the damage is already done. His relationship with his wife, Rose, becomes distant, and his son left their home out of frustration with his father. Troy dies a few years later due to a heart attack. Rose continued to raise Troy’s illegitimate daughter, and kept her close and protected within the house’s new fence. The connection to the culminating question……

Connection #4 (Night)

In the novel Night, written by Elie Wiesel, Elie depicts his first-hand account of World War II from his Jewish perspective. Elie and his family lived in the small Jewish town of Sighet in Transylvania. When Elie was a teenager, his family was informed by German officials that they were to move into a centralized “ghetto” with other Jewish families. At first, Elie and his family did not make much out of the move – the German official was nice and they would now be closer to their friends and extended family. This was their mistake, however. In fact, it was the entire Jewish communities’ mistake. It was this small moment that would turn out to be the Weisel family’s only opportunity to escape. As WWII progressed and Adolph Hitler began to expand his new regime throughout the vast expanses of Europe, life for Elie and his family and the rest of the Jewish community turned for the worse. Without truly knowing what the future held for them, from within the small Jewish ghetto that housed Elie, he and his family boarded a train that was headed for a Nazi concentration camp. Elie and his father were separated from his mother and sisters. He would later find out that he would never see them again. Elie and his father traveled all over Europe, staying in both the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. They were treated horribly by the Nazi officials, being forced to do manual labor, subjected to medical tests, and faced with malnutrition. Elie lost all faith in his God during these times. He even considered taking his own life to escape the misery he felt on a daily basis. The only thing that kept him from giving up was his father. Towards the end of WWII (which was unknown to the Jewish people in the concentration camps), Elie’s father died from over-exhaustion and lack of food and water. Elie lost all hope when his father passed. However, within days after the tragedy, the Americans liberated the Jewish prisoners from the Nazi concentration camps and Elie was once again given freedom. The connection to the culminating question……

Connection #3 (The Playboy of the Western World)

In the play The Playboy of the Western World, Christy wound up at a small Irish town after murdering his own father. The people in the small Irish town rarely leave their town, and therefore had rarely seen anyone from outside of their town. When Christy arrives, claiming to have killed his father with his own hands and a shovel, the town embraces him, thinking he is a hero for having the courage to kill his own father. Christy soon falls in love with a local girl, named Pegeen. Christy loves to tell everyone of his story, adding extreme details each time he tells it. As the play progresses, Christy is faced to deal with a challenge. His father Mahon (the one who he supposedly killed) shows up at the town. The town is outraged at Christy! Christy then gets in another brawl with his father and again strikes him over the head. The town, believing that Christy just killed his own father, prepares to hang him. As he is about to be hanged, Mahon shows up again and saves Christy. Christy departs from the small Irish town and leaves his love Pegeen, to once again run away with his father. The connection to the culminating question…..

Connection #2 (King Lear)

In the play King Lear, written by Shakespeare, the old ruler King Lear is ready to give up his kingdom to his daughters and “retire” from his kingship. He decides to divide up land among his three daughters based on how much they confess their love for him. The first two daughters, Regan and Goneril, tell their father exactly what he wants to hear – both telling him how great of a man he is and even better of a father. His third daughter, Cordelia, tells her father how she truly feels. Cordelia loves her father as a daughter should love a father, but nothing more. She, unlike her sisters’ proclamations, does not obsess over him. King Lear, outraged, banishes Cordelia from his kingdom and forces her to leave. King Lear divides his kingdom in half among Regan and Goneril and asks that they each take turns housing him and caring for him in his old age. As the play progresses, Regan and Goneril begin to have talks of getting rid of their father, now that he no longer controls any land or exercises any power over them. King Lear soon recognizes this, and for his own safety begins to wander the countryside with his remaining companion, the fool. As he wanders, King Lear becomes more and more “insane,” carrying out unusual acts such as arguing with nature, taking off all his clothes, and even setting up a fake trial accusing Regan and Goneril. While these strange acts may look like he has lost all hope, King Lear is actually beginning to realize that he has made several mistakes in his past. Towards the end of the play, the kingdom (now run by Regan and Goneril) is in total disarray. As King Lear comes back, he is thrown in jail, along with Cordelia who has come with her husband, France, to take over Regan and Goneril. While in jail, Cordelia dies and King Lear dies from an overwhelming amount of grief. The connection to the culminating question…..

Connection #1 (Oedipus)

In the short play “Oedipus” written by Sophocles, Oedipus is burdened at birth with an oracle. His parents, King Laius and Jocasta hear from a prophet that their son will kill his own father (King Laius) and marry his own mother (Jocasta). Upon hearing this horrible prophecy, King Laius orders his son be taken out to the field and killed. The man responsible for taking young Oedipus out into the field and killing him feels pity for the helpless boy, so he gives him to a shepherd to look after, thinking no harm would be done. As Oedipus grows up, he believes that the farmer and the farmer’s wife are his true parents. Oedipus soon hears of the horrible prophecy that was declared on him, and thinking that his true parents were the farmer and his wife, he decides to leave them and head towards Thebes. Along the way to Thebes, Oedipus meets a havoc-causing group of road travelers who refuse to get off the road which would allow Oedipus to pass. A fight ensues and Oedipus ends up killing all but one man who manages to run off. As Oedipus approaches the town of Thebes, he realizes that the town had been cursed by a Sphinx, who has a riddle that must be solved. Oedipus, being a wise man, easily solves the riddle and saves the town. King Laius has not been seen in several days (more on this later), so Thebes makes Oedipus king. Along with his newfound kingship, Oedipus then marries Jocasta (his true mother). Oedipus lives happily for a long time, until finally grief sets in and random intellectuals approach Oedipus about the prophecy. Oedipus soon makes the connection that he did, in fact, kill his father (King Laius) on the road to Thebes and that he did marry and have relations with his biological mother (Jocasta). Realizing that the prophecy had come true, Oedipus gouges out his eyes and banishes himself from the kingdom. The connection to the culminating question.....

My Big Question

Throughout the 2009-10 year of AP Literature, I will be focusing on the following question and applying it to the novels that I have read and will be reading:

"Are we governed/guided by fate, free will, a greater power, or do we fall somewhere on the spectrum between?"