Posts

Revenge and Pyrrhic Victory in Black Swan Green

The page numbers of my quotes may be off because I used a Portable Document Format of Black Swan Green.       According to Merriam Webster, revenge is "an act or instance of retaliating in order to get even" ("revenge"). In Black Swan Green, Julia Taylor defines a Pyrrhic victory as “one where you win, but the cost of winning is so high that it would’ve been better if you’d never bothered with the war in the first place” (Mitchell 116).        When the mom and dad are arguing about buying a rockery, the mom asks the question, "So it’s all right for you to spend six hundred pounds on a golf-club membership you hardly ever use, but it isn’t all right for me to improve our property?” (Mitchell 101). This response classifies as revenge because the mom is retaliating against the dad by rebutting that the dad spends six hundred pounds on a golf-club membership when the dad questions the cost of Italian marble in the rockery. The mom is also trying ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consubstantial and Spiritual Paternity in Fun Home

The tale of Daedalus and Icarus is referenced in Fun Home. In the tale, Daedalus built wax wings for himself and Icarus to escape imprisonment. Icarus ignored Daedalus's warning and flew too close to the sun which melted the wax and caused him to die. I think this is also where the saying "flew to close to the sun" comes from which you might of heard before. Although Icarus ended up dying he was able to ignore Daedalus's warning and do what he wanted. I think Daedalus's warning could represents Bruce's arguments with Allison over boys clothes as a warning for Allison to conform to societal norms. Allison choosing to come out as a lesbian could be seen as ignoring the warning like Icarus.  Daedalus and Icarus are an example of consubstantial paternity which also applies to Allison and Bruce, but After Bruce confesses about his experiences, Allison monologues "I HAD FELT DISTINCTLY PARENTAL LISTENING TO HIS SHAMEFACED RECITATION" (Bechdel 221). I think...
1 comment
Read more

Allegedly Handsome in a Turtle Neck Sweater

     Hello, in this blog I would like to explore further the small group discussion of is Buddy Willard a hypocrite? Here is the link to that discussion if you want to take a look:  https://thecomingofagenovel2026.blogspot.com/2026/02/small-group-discussion-is-buddy-willard.html , but you might get a redirect notice where you want to click on the first link which looks like the one in this blog although the second link may not work anyway. I think Esther Greenwood means that she thinks Willard is fake by calling him a hypocrite.      I think Esther thought Buddy is her ideal man . During one Christmas vacation, Esther says that Buddy wore "a thick white turtleneck sweater and looking so handsome I could hardly stop staring" (Plath 59). This quote was when Buddy invited Esther to Prom. Here is link to page 59 if you want to take a look although it might be illegally pirated so I wouldn't risk t:  https://online.fliphtml5.com/ozpri/beyu/#p=65 ....
1 comment
Read more

Y u Always Lyin'

       You might have told a lie before. Whether it was by accident or on purpose lies are a part of human interactions. Holden Caulfield is no different. He has told one or two or maybe a couple hundred lies before. Thinking back, I was wondering about the whiteness of the lies he told, wait that sounds wrong. What I mean is how many of the lies he told could be considered as white lies. I do not really want to cite a source in MLA format on what the definition of a white lie is and for a joke (you might get later) so if you do not know what a white lie is, according to me, a white lie is a lie that is relatively harmless to the person on the receiving end of the lie. Now let’s look back on the lies Holden has told and determine whether they are white or not. I mean whether the lies Holden told can classify as being a white lie or not based on the prior definition. Now it's time to play white or not white! I mean white lie or not white lie!      For t...
7 comments
Read more