This Modern World

Once in a while, something like the Virginia Tech student killings emerge to remind us of how complicated the world is today, in terms of the social factors that had shaped this young man's life which led him to enact his terrible action, and also in terms of the development of the character of the modern individual, with all his psychological neuroses and problems. The fact that the man had conceived of himself as a victim, a martyr, of abuse from the people around him, whom he considered as hedonistic, seems to indicate some deep-seated anger in the young man. The killings were his way of retaliating against what he saw were terrible forces of the world; these forces were probably magnified due to his depression.

Coming back to the relevance of the Heart of Darkness, the Virginia Tech student's action could be an example of an action that comes from human darkness, the places in the heart where depths of possible despair, anger and irrationality reside, the places that we often are not aware of, the "mental changes" that take over when placed under situations of such emotional duress. We have so many self-declared martyrs these days, dying for a fanatic religious cause, or dying supposedly for the sins that our society perpetuates. Perhaps they are driven by an "idea at the back of it, not a sentimental pretence but an idea, and an unselfish belief in the idea" -- they believe fervently that their however misguided cause is their truth. After all, "the mind of man is capable of anything". Perhaps they lack the "inborn strength" that Marlow talks about, in meeting the terrible truth in themselves.

I'm not quite sure how the film Mon Colonel ('The Colonel') will turn out, but it sounds like we are going to be encountering a similar situation. The 20th century (and it continues on till today!) is a century filled with examples of human darkness and atrocities, and these films and stories that we read and watch give us an idea, or at least attempt to ask the following questions -- How are people led to this state? Is there some essential truth about the nature of humanity/human psychology that is revealed from these instances? This question is depressing and disturbing, but at least, we have the wisdom to know that as Marlow says, "There (is) surface-truth enough in these things to save a wiser man." We have the focus on our everyday lives to keep us sane, the little details in our everyday existence and our sense of self-restraint and control that keep us from tipping over like the Korean man.

How you should write the titles of works in your essay (i.e. "formatting")

This is the rule:

For titles of major works (i.e. novels, plays, poetry collections, e.g. The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen), UNDERLINE the title.

For individual poems themselves from the collections, PUT TITLES IN QUOTATION MARKS.

Thank you.

Drama PC table

I've uploaded the handout I gave you guys on the Drama PC onto KM under "English" document library.

Common Test Review

Common Test review will be done in lecture and tutorial next week. This common test has been quite interesting, in terms of your performance.

After conferring with Ms Chua, we agreed that there were similar problems across the board -- not much quotation and elaboration, or quotations with little elaboration, or quotations with elaboration with no linkage back to the point made. Also, questions were partly addressed/answered, usually with students expounding on one part of the phrase/question. Another problem with be choice of evidence. One factor that distinguished the good essays from the others was the evidence that backed up the points -- the higher scores had evidence that clearly and most aptly showed their point.

One thing that you have going for you -- you are decent, if not good writers as a whole (except for fragmented sentences). So let's capitalize on our strengths and go further.

We'll be focusing on answering questions in the next few weeks. For those of you who had scores lower than you expected, take in a moment of self-pity, then move on. The road is hard but we'll eventually get to the end.

Contrasts in Heart of Darkness

Lit A: We will be looking at the section after the Manager and before Ms Chua's lecture section last week. (should be touching on Kurtz)

Keep looking out for contrasts -- the white men vs the black men, nature vs man, reality vs illusion, ambiguity vs clarity

Observe how Conrad plays with these contrasts. Contrasts serve to highlight a point through difference, but Conrad uses what we assume of these contrasts in ways which are unexpected, to bring about subversive or ambiguous effects. (e.g. he can discuss the same subject, i.e. the black men, contrasting them to the white men in different approaches -- i.e. the vitality of the black men, also the black men as "shadows") The categories for these contrasts and the portrayal of things change, reflecting Marlow's processing of experience.

Think about the connotations of a journey, pilgrimage. What does Marlow find? What does Marlow confront? What does Marlow know (especially with regard to the motif of sight, of seeing)? What do we know? As Marlow physically journeys into the Congo, he also discovers more of himself, the heart of his darkness, the heart of mankind/civilization's darkness that's in everyone of us, especially manifested in the guise of light.

Initial comments on Common Test

I've finished marking the two main Murder in the Cathedral questions and am in the middle of your PC. You will most likely receive your essays next next week, but here are some comments.

So far, no one has gotten below a score of thirteen, I think.

Good news: You guys know where to look for pertinent evidence, judging from the quotations that you are giving me, and you guys know the main points of the play.

Bad news, or rather, problems: You guys are not answering the question accurately. You are not providing the links to show how you're using the evidence/point to answer the question. You are taking assumed associations for granted and not explaining them to me.

i.e.

You need to prove that Murder in the Cathedral shows the theme of a "deeper desolation of a world declining into materialism".

You talk about spiritual loss/decline, eternal vs. temporal.

What you don't do is explain to me how spiritual decline/loss, eternal vs. temporal is related to/displays/explains for materialism. You should be putting in a sentence which explains that materialism, defined as a concern or obsession with material power (e.g. wealth, political power), shows/is implied by a loss in spirituality. The conflict between the eternal and the temporal is an age-old conflict, however, in this play, aspects of the eternal (i.e. the spiritual) seem to be downplayed as aspects of the temporal (i.e. the material) dominate the characters' behaviour and thoughts.

You talk about the play's message being one of Becket teaching the world of a need for spirituality and spiritual regeneration.

What you don't do is to explain to me how that shows "a deeper desolation of a world declining into materialism". You should be showing this desolation through other means (e.g. the Chorus), before explaining the significance of Becket's spiritual lesson in the play, as the only way of bringing this terrible world out of their desolate materialism.

You prove the world declining into materialism, but you don't discuss the desolation of this world.

For the action and suffering question, you don't explain to me what action and suffering represent/mean conceptually and dramatically, and the relationship between the two, as well as their larger significance on the play (besides moving the plot along), how it is impactful on the 20th century audience.

Always make sure that every point for each paragraph directly answers the question.

We need to work on answering those questions more accurately and making sure you are thorough in explaining yourselves. I'm glad that some of you have given your definitions for the key terms in the question in your introductions and worked out your arguments from there. We also need to deepen your arguments, as many of you are still giving me straightforward arguments that do not really reflect complexity, or unable to pick up on the complexity of the issues involved. And let's not forget organization problems, with some repeating their points.

But I'm glad to say that most of you provided some textual evidence which was generally relevant. I need to see more of that, thank you.

Following up, I will be asking a few of you to relook at your essays and reorganize your points. I will also be giving you guys tasks like producing essay outlines to different essay questions to see if you can 1) pick out the right issues to discuss 2)come up with a clear argument which answers the question, with key terms explained and key relationships outlined from the start.