Lara's English Class Blog

  In the very beginning of The Grand Budapest Hotel , there are three flashbacks which lead up to the main storyline. The first scene takes place in a cemetery during present day where the viewer sees a statue of an author who, it soon becomes evident, is the author of a book title “The Grand Budapest Hotel”. The first flashback then transports the viewer to 1985 where this same author is now alive and discussing the story which is about to take place. The second flashback goes to 1968 where a younger version of this author is now in The Grand Budapest Hotel and meets the owner of the hotel: Zero. Up until this point, the story is being narrated by the author, who remains unnamed, but now Zero takes over and begins to tell the story of The Grand Budapest Hotel. This is when the third and final flashback takes place to 1932. The viewer is now introduced to M. Gustave and a young Zero. Zero becomes Gustave’s pupil and Gustave begins to teach him the ins and outs of hotel management. ...

       As I was reading through  The Plague , I noticed that many of the characters had very different philosophies and I wonder how Camus being an atheist affected the ideologies throughout the book. As an atheist, Camus thought that life, death, and pain had no profound and rational meaning. But, I think he believed that people could still give meaning to their lives, especially through one principal way: choosing to fight against suffering.      When the plague first began, people disregarded it because unless they had been personally affected, they did not see protecting others as important. When they finally realized months later that the plague was still there, they made the effort to stay home, effectively fighting against death. This act of joining together in that effort painted them as heroes because Camus believed this gave meaning to their lives.     In addition, Rieux and Tarrou (along with the rest of their colleagues) are ...

     When I read the final line of The Sun Also Rises I immediately understood it as Jake dismissing Brett's comment on their possible relationship. Without realizing it as I was reading through the first time, as I looked back through the last few pages of the book, I think there were multiple hints that lead me to draw that conclusion instead of regarding his words in a different tone.      The first hint I came across was that Jake was visibly annoyed that Brett called him to Madrid and he said "Well, that meant San Sebastian all shot to hell". This was a reaction we hadn't previously seen from Jake. Any other time when Brett had asked for his help, he had always assisted her with no hesitation and no angry feelings. This time, he was less excited to drop everything to help Brett. It's really telling that he wasn't so wrapped around her finger anymore and even though he still went, this was the first step to eventually not giving in to her every wis...

 Although Jake likes to claim he is some sort of big macho man, many events in the book make it clear that he is in fact, the opposite. The loss of his uh, manhood, has left him not only physically, but also psychologically damaged. In a way that he feels the need to make up for. One of the ways this insecurity makes itself clear is through Jake's treatment of Robert Cohn. A man who he seems to look down upon, but still is insanely jealous of.  Cohn is Jewish and considered a sort of outsider in the group. He is old-fashioned and serious in a way the other members of the group dislike. So, they seize on him as an opportunity to release their own insecurities. He tries to win Brett, much like the other men in the group, but the manner in which he does it (differently, and old-fashioned) makes him the object of mockery for the characters as a whole.  Jake in particular is very resentful of Cohn, calling his trip with Brett "charity" on her part. He seems incredibly angry th...

  Since we met Richard in Mrs. Dalloway I’ve been considering whether he truly loves Clarissa or not, and it’s become quite clear to me now that Richard definitely does love Clarissa.  The clearest piece of evidence I have is simply considering the values during the time Mrs. Dalloway is set in. In the 1920s, many husbands not only didn’t respect their wives, they abused them physically and emotionally because they thought they were completely entitled to that. Even then, when it wasn’t very frowned upon, husbands beating and abusing their wives was not out of love. It was purely about exerting their control over women. Richard is a breath of fresh air compared to these types of husbands. From all that we’ve seen, Richard does not think of Clarissa as his possession or an object. In reality, it’s the exact opposite. Richard feels grateful and lucky to be married to Clarissa and he thinks his life is great because of his relationship with her.  The other main reason I thi...

  Virginia Woolf’s technique of using every character’s perspective gives us a chance to create a complete sense of each character throughout Mrs. Dalloway. While in most other books (that at least I’ve read) we only mainly view the world through one character’s perspective, in Mrs. Dalloway Woolf is able to create a better overall picture of the characters through her switch of perspective. In The Mezzanine , for example, the only perspective we’re introduced to is Howie’s and we remain with him for the duration of the book. While this doesn’t make The Mezzanine an incomplete or inferior book, we never truly get a sense of how other people view Howie or think about him -- we can only infer what they might think. In Mrs. Dalloway we not only get to listen to the thoughts and emotions of a character (for example Clarissa) but we also get to see how everyone around views her from the outside.  When the reader is introduced to a character’s thoughts it immediately gives them a...

In The Mezzanine Nicholson Baker introduces the reader to the same, ordinary world we live in yet illustrates it from a completely new detailed perspective. Throughout their day most people don’t give much thought to their interactions beyond a minimal practical analysis yet Baker goes a step further scrutinizing every small detail, even of the most seemingly insignificant items and experiences. He goes beyond just the simple description of his life finding every encounter to be fascinating. In this regard, Baker reconstructs the world around us and gives the reader a new perspective to explore. On the surface there is nothing intrinsically special about a stapler or a sandwich with sliced olives yet Baker is able to introduce a whole new set of thoughts related to those items. His perspective is not only exceptionally detailed but vividly artistic as well. He is able to talk about the most random objects around him for pages without losing the reader’s interest. Baker’s ability to ...