Seminary Minion Corner

  In fact, like our fellow citizens, Rieux was caught off his guard, and we should understand his hesitations in the light of this fact; and similarly understand how he was torn between conflicting fears and confidence. When a war breaks out, people say: "It's too stupid; it can't last long." But though a war may well be "too stupid," that doesn't prevent its lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way; as we should see if we were not always so much wrapped up in ourselves. Reading this book has been a shocking reflection of our current times with the pandemic, with the parallels of covid pervasive. The narrator talks constantly about peoples reluctance to accept the reality of the situation, attributing it to one thing or another, coming up with excuse, flat out dismissing it it, etc.  But what are a hundred million deaths? When one has served in a war, one hardly knows what a dead man is, after a while. And since a dead man has no substance unles...

"I am sure he had never been in love in his life. He had married on the rebound from the rotten time he had in college, and Frances took him on the rebound from his discovery that he had not been everything to his first wife." Jake throughout the book is hard, stubborn, and skeptical. He silently and verbally judges relationships, writing the majority off as loveless or dysfunctional. This heavily contrast with his behavior with Brett. "'It's funny,' I said. 'It's very funny. And it's a lot of fun, too, to be in love.' 'Do you think so?' her eyes looked flat again. 'I don't mean fun that way. In a way it's an enjoyable feeling.' 'No,' she said. 'I think it's hell on earth.'" He is mopey and almost needy. "Don't you love me?" he asks Brett, looking for condolences after she refuses to kiss him. But outside, he almost adopts her attitude towards love. Brett took on that attitude afte...

      In Mrs. Dalloway, Peter continuously judges and criticizes Clarissa, from the phrasing she uses to her hosting of frivolous events. "Heavenly to see you. She must say so!" He folded the paper; pushed it away; nothing would induce him to read it again!  To get that letter to him by six o'clock she must have sat down and written it directly he left her; stamped it; sent somebody to the post. It was, as people say, very like her. He was angry and frustrated at her noble and polite society sensibilities, something that is not reflected when it comes to Sally She and Peter had settled down together. They were talking: it seemed so familiar--that they should be talking. They would discuss the past.  And Sally used to be in rags and tatters. She had pawned her grandmother's ring which Marie Antoinette had given her great-grandfather to come to Bourton. He sees her departure from her longstanding beliefs, her joining of a class that she long scorned as more of a s...

     To delve into the breadth of Clarissas emotions, we must first explore her relationships with other characters. An obvious choice is Richard. She seems to display little to no emotion towards him- after all, he was the safe choice, chosen for stability and a vague sense of companionship, that would be permanent. She seems to have a dull feeling of fading away when considering him often, with them growing apart her fears lie more in not having any impact on society or anyone's life any more, as evidenced by  the quote " She had the oddest sense of being herself invisible; unseen; unknown; there being no more marrying, no more having of children now, but only this astonishing and rather solemn progress with the rest of them, up Bond Street, this being Mrs. Dalloway; not even Clarissa any more; this being Mrs. Richard Dalloway." This indicates that she sees her current position in society as an extension of her husband, and the farthe...

     An odd contrast is posed in the Mezzanine within Howie. On the inside, he is constantly thinking, constantly pondering the intricacies in our society, puzzling over everything between deodorant and bagels, paper bags and bathrooms. However, externally, he is a drone to society in a world where subservience of thought is encouraged, a slave to the relations of late stage capitalist mode of production, drones of the system.       This brings the question to the table- is Howie really as unique as he seems to be? He could be considered a rare case, a unique character in a sea of people alienated from all inward humanity. Or perhaps, every other one of the lifeless seeming acquaintances he interacts, has a lively mind outside of their role in society.     One of the few major outward expressions of his distracted mind was when, after a long trip in the bathroom, he begins to hum.      "I held the door for him. As I walked out ...