Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
Tuesday, May 14, 2019
The Blithedale Romance and The Bell Jar: Too close or too far away?
Miles is
constantly wondering whether his unhappiness is caused by being too concerned
about Priscilla, Zenobia and Hollingsworth, or not concerned enough.Which is it?Is Esther’s problem in any way similar to that of Miles?
In my opinion, Mile’s problem is that he is too concerned with Priscilla’s, Hollingsworth and Zenobias problems but despite being concerned, we can see that at times he wants to distance himself from them. This can be seen when he left for a vacation to get away from everyone but still ended up mixing into their affairs and trying to understand and mix into everybody’s business. Because of this exaggerated concern, though personally I wouldn’t call it concern but exaggerated curiosity, these characters tend to be less willing to share their concerns with him by the end. We can compare how at the beginning, he was friends with all of them, but as the plot continues, he seems to drift apart from the group. When we look at Mile’s problem being more as something that is distancing him from the group, we can say that his and Esther’s problem are very similar. We can see that throughout Esther’s entire story, she was never really part of any group and never had any closer relations with anybody. Similarly to Mile’s she calls herself as an observer and distances herself from everyone, even if maybe unwillingly. If we look at if Esther is too concerned about people around her, I personally wouldn’t say that would be true. Even though we may see that she overanalyzes some people and their actions, unlike with Mile’s we see less of an empathic approach, but more of an analytical and rational. Overall, I wouldn’t say that their problems of being over or under concerned are similar, but how these slightly different problems lead to very similar consequences of distancing oneself.
In my opinion, Mile’s problem is that he is too concerned with Priscilla’s, Hollingsworth and Zenobias problems but despite being concerned, we can see that at times he wants to distance himself from them. This can be seen when he left for a vacation to get away from everyone but still ended up mixing into their affairs and trying to understand and mix into everybody’s business. Because of this exaggerated concern, though personally I wouldn’t call it concern but exaggerated curiosity, these characters tend to be less willing to share their concerns with him by the end. We can compare how at the beginning, he was friends with all of them, but as the plot continues, he seems to drift apart from the group.
ReplyDeleteWhen we look at Mile’s problem being more as something that is distancing him from the group, we can say that his and Esther’s problem are very similar. We can see that throughout Esther’s entire story, she was never really part of any group and never had any closer relations with anybody. Similarly to Mile’s she calls herself as an observer and distances herself from everyone, even if maybe unwillingly. If we look at if Esther is too concerned about people around her, I personally wouldn’t say that would be true. Even though we may see that she overanalyzes some people and their actions, unlike with Mile’s we see less of an empathic approach, but more of an analytical and rational. Overall, I wouldn’t say that their problems of being over or under concerned are similar, but how these slightly different problems lead to very similar consequences of distancing oneself.