Neil Gaiman was born on November 10, 1960, in Portchester, England and started writing novels from the 1980’s to present. His books are mostly fantasy, horror and science fiction. He wrote book such as Stardust, Caroline, The Sandman and The Graveyard Book. Gaiman won many awards for his books, such as the Hugo, Nebula and the 2009 Newbery Medal recently. Neil Gaiman is also a Screen Writer and a Graphic Novelist. The Graveyard book was inspired by his son who he saw playing in a graveyard but it took him over 20 years to finish.In the final research paper for this class I choose the Marxist Literary Theory in interpreting The Graveyard Book. I choose that approach because I saw many instances where there was a division in the classes. The Graveyard Book is about a little boy whose family got killed when he was still a baby by a man. He was then adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Owens who were ghosts and belonged to the graveyard. He was named Nobody Owens and his Guardian Silas a man who was neither dead nor alive. Bod as he was called was not allowed to leave the graveyard because if he left the mysterious man would track him down and kill him. At the Graveyard Bod had many ups and down and made many friends as well as lost some, he was also educated by the residents of the graveyard for many years and went to a public school for a short period. At the Graveyard as well as outside Bod got into a lot of trouble as he grew up and eventually he had to leave the Graveyard. The major players for Marxism are Karl Marx, Fredrick Engle and Louis Althusser. In this theory the founder Karl Marx saw conflict in the society as well as between countries where there was inequality between the classes (upper and lower class). The upper class was said to use their wealth and power to exploit the poorer or lower class. We see where this relates to the book as the bad persons were the ones who were wealthy on the other hand, Louis Althusser also a well know Marxist philosopher and was sometimes referred to as a Structural Marxist. In this Marxist theory Karl Marx talks about inequality in the classes (bourgeoisie and proletarian). In the Journal of Aesthetic Education Vol. 22. No. 2, Published by the University of Illinois Press, by C. David Lisman, he stated that Karl Marx argued that "circumstances make men just as men make circumstances" and that Georg Lukcas in his book Realism in our Times, and who is also a Marxist Literary theorists "theorizes that the Western modern literary tradition itself can be seen as mediated by capitalism. He maintains that the modernist tradition has adopted the view that humans are essentially solitary. Modernist characters are a historical beings confined within the limits of their own experience and thrown into the world without any sense of personal history". The statement means that because of the way a person grows up they maybe consider somebody as being in the upper or lower class. The Marxist Literary Criticism as stated by Terry Eagleton focuses on not only focuses on class but also aims to explain the form style and meanings of a piece of literature.In the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman we see different classes; one instance is the Ghouls and the Ghosts. When Gaiman refers to the Ghouls in the book he refers to them in a degrading and disgusting manner (rats the size of children pg.75). The Ghouls are also portrayed as fearing the Ghosts as well as the Hounds of God (Miss Lupescu). Its can also be said that there is a difference in the living arrangements as the Ghouls lived underground which Miss Lupescu referred to as “hell” where its dark and dull and the Ghosts live above ground where it green and bright. As a stereotype the upper class are often identified as having better living conditions than the lower class. In the graveyard we also see where there is a difference in the classes between the Ghosts themselves; we see this with Caius Pompeius who is one of the oldest in the graveyard and a person who everybody in the graveyard looks up to. Here we see where the power goes against the norm as here the power is not determined by money or social class but by how long a person has been buried in the Graveyard. Another instance of class conflict is determined by the graveyard grounds (sacred grounds) and the unconsecrated grounds which were parted off by a fence. The people who were on the unconsecrated ground were seen as people who were criminals, who committed suicides and who were not of faith. As seen in the book the Owens’s told Bod not to go near Potter’s Fields (unconsecrated grounds) because there were bad people there even though later on Bod made a very good friend, Liza Hempstock who helps Bod when he was in a lot of trouble. We see where the in the Danse of the Macabre, the Ghosts controlled the living people and the woman on the horse who started to Lead the Macabray dance. She maybe seen that the person who collects the Ghost of a person when he or she dies therefore she is seen as a superior figure in the Ghost world.Marxism is also identified where we see that the Man Jack works for persons in high power who also are called the “Jacks of All Trade”. As Giaman stated the men met in an expensive room (Washington Room was taken for the night for a private function pg.166) at a hotel, he also said that they were in “sober black suit”(pg 166). He also stated that all had a hundred of them had different features Gaiman described them as having “white hair or dark hair, fair hair or red hair, or no hair at all. They had friendly faced and unfriendly faces, helpful or sullen, open or secretive, brutish or sensitive”. The book points out that the men were from all races and from all over the world, we can see where the “Suits” symbolizes wealth. Gaiman explains the men’s different features to show that anybody can be wealthy and in a bourgeoisie position no matter where in the word a person is from. We also understand that they consider themselves as being in the ”higher class” as the men were talking about what they had done for the poor and lower class.Class conflict is also seen when Bod started school where at first he wasn’t noticed but after standing up for himself as well as other kids he was noticed by the bullies Nick Farting and Maurine Quilling (Mo). Nick and Mo thought they could get what they wanted from the kids and boss them around. They thought they were better than Bod and wanted to beat him up which did not work. They even tried sending Bod to prison but instead they got in trouble. There is a reverse in the role between Bod, Nick and Mo where Bod started to bully Nick and Mo using the powers the graveyard gave him. This showed that there can be a change in the class of persons where the person that was considered lower can reverse the role and become the higher one.Multiple instances of class conflict are seen in “The Graveyard Book”. In the book you see that class cannot only be due to riches but also due to age and where the ghosts are buried in the graveyard. This tells us that in the world class does not only refer to the rich and the poor but maybe due to many reasons. It is concluded that class conflict is seen everywhere in a society and has influence the way a person thinks and even in novels. The book ends with Bod having to leave the graveyard and all the people he knew because he was getting too old and it was time to find himself and where in the real world he belongs and also the graveyard that gave him his powers now started to take it back.
WORK CITED
Lisman, C. David. Journal of Aesthetic Education Vol. 22. No. 2. Published by the University of Illinois Press. JSTOR. Web. November 29,2009.
Louch, A. R. New literary History. Vol 8,No1. John Hopkins University Press. JSTOR . Web. November 20, 2009.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_theory>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Gaiman#Bibliography>
Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard book. HarperCollins Publishers. 2008

extra credit

In the movie Spirited Away by Hayao Mayazaki the major characters are Chihiro also called Sen, a young girl who gets lost along with her parents, Haku, Yubaba, Zeniba, Bandai-gaeru, Chichiyaku, Kawa-Kami, Rin and Aniyaku. The plot of the movie is about a young girl and her parents who while moving find themselves stuck in a strange world with Gods, and withches and ghosts and monsters and the humans who enter the world turns into animals and put to work in the bath house where the Gods and monsters.Her parents turns in pigs and to save them Chihiro tries takes a job at the bath house. Alone the way the Chihiro makes friend who help along the way epecially her best friend and the person she loves Hoku who works for Yubaba who is the head of the bath house.
This film fits into the course perfectly as its about the supernatural and this whole course has been aim at the supernatural about witches, ghosts, magical powers, monsters and gods.

blog 9

Marx

Engels

For the Graveyard Book we see instances where there are multiple theoretical approaches used. One approach that I identified was the Marxian Literary Theory, two major players in this theory are Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In this Marxist theory Karl Marx talks about inequality in the classes (bourgeoisie and proletarian). In the Journal of Aesthetic Education Vol. 22. No. 2, Published by the University of Illinois Press, by C. David Lisman, he stated that Karl Marx argued that "circumstances make men just as men make circumstances" and that Georg Lukcas in his book Realism in our Times, and who is a Marxist Literary theorists "theorizes that the Western modern literary tradition itself can be seen as mediated by capitalism. He maintains that the modernist tradition has adopted the view that humans are essentially solitary. Modernist characters are a historical beings confined within the limits of their own experience and thrown into the world without any sense of personal history". The statement means that because of the way a person grows up they maybe consider somebody as being in the upper or lower class.

In the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman we see different classes; an example is the Ghouls and the Ghosts or the people in the graveyard. When Gaiman refers to the Ghouls in the book he refers to them in a degrading and disgusting manner (rats the size of children pg.75). Marxism is also identified where we see that the Man Jack works for persons in high power as they met in an expensive room (Washington Room pg.166) at a hotel and was stating the what good deed they had done for the poor or less fortunate.

Also in Marx Literary Criticism as stated by Terry Eagleton focuses on not only class or sociology but it also aims to explain the form, style and meanings of a literary piece.

some questions are:

1. What differences can i identify between the different classes in the book?

2.How is Marxism formed in the book and how does it affects the characters?

3.How is social class viewed in the different chapters?

4. what class conflict do u see between the Ghouls and the Gosts?

5. How are the "Jacks of All Trades" potrayed as opposed to others?

Blog 8

For the next research paper are suppose to analyze Th Graveyard Book using a literary theory. The three critical approached that i found interesting and that applied to the book are Marxism, Adolesence psychology and Structuralism. i am intrested in there three approaches because they apply grealt to the assignment.

The major players for Marxism are Karl Marx and Fredrick Engles. In this theory the founder Karl Marx saw conflict in the society as well as between countries where the was inequalitly between the classes (upper and lower class). the upper class was said to use their wealth and power to exploit the poorer or lower class. we see where this relate to the book as the bad persons were the ones who were wealthy.

The major players in Structuralism are Ferdinand de Saussure, Michel Foucault adn Jacques Lacan. They believed that society has interrelated parts that work together so that there can be stability in a society, in this case in the book we see the good and the bad.

Another criticism is Adolescense psychology which is apart of psychoanalysis theory which is developed by Sigmund Freud. this applies to the book as we see the transition of Nobady Owens out of chidlhood into adolesence.

blog 7

Everywhere in the world you go at one point men were seen as the strong breadwinner of the family who pursued the woman he wanted, on the other hand the women are seen as the ones who take care of the family does the cleaning and make sure her husband is happy. However over the years that has changed and women are now "stepping up to the plat" and are moving away from that stereotpye.

The book Midsummer Night's Dream is mainly about the relationships between men and women as it can be seen through the couples "Theseus and Hippolyta, Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania" There was also a relationship between Bottom and Titania. Shakespeare grew up in the Victorian period and was influenced by it as during that time men were considered to be superior to women and were given more oppertunities just as in Midsummer Night's Dream.

It is seen as stereotypical where the male characters are portrayed as superior or put in superior positions such as ,Oberon who is king of the fairies and the woods, Theseus Duke of Athens, Lysander and Demetrius who are both wealthy and Egeus who is Hermia's father who thinks he own Hermia as he states that "as she is mine, I may dispose of her". Majority of the actors are also males. We also see some characters go against the so called restrictions of there sex, one such character is Helena where she is the one pursuing Demetrius which is not something women normally do as they are the one's that are pursued.An example is both Hermia and Hippolyta as Hermia is being pursued by both Lysander and Demetrus an Hypolyta was pursued by Theseus.

Also we see where Helena has had sex with Demetrius even though they are not married as opposed to Hermia who waiting on getting married before she has sex. Hermia is following the stereotype of marriage before sex while Helena is moving away from that stereotypical view.

blog 6

Essay #4
English 102, 0001
Dr. C Jason Smith
October 28, 2009


Last Love [Canzone]


Love hath a chamber all of imagery;
And there is one dim nook,
A little storied web wherein my heart
From leaf to leaf is read as in a book.

One part in the middle of the web begun
and left unfinished;
a face with ravelled threads falling over
it and hiding it. Love says
that the time has come to resume and
finish this part of the web,
though much has come between since it
was begun.

For the garlands of heaven were all laid
by,
And the Daylight sucked at the breasts of
a Lie.

The wounded heart and the dying swan
Were side by side
Where the rushes coil with the turn of
the tide—
The hart and the swan.

Withinthose eyes the sedulous yearning
throe,
And all the evil of my heart
A thousand times forgotten.

Ah if you had been lost for many years,
And from the dead to-day were risen
again!




Daniel Gabriel Rossetti was born on May 12, 1828 in London England and died in April 9, 1882 in the country house of a friend on Easter Sunday. In addition to being a poet Daniel Rossetti was also a marvelous painter. In Rossetti’s poetry was described as “Victorian Poetry” due to it being written in the Victorian period. Some persons believed that Rossetti’s poems as well as his paintings contained pornography and the female body was a “specter” that indicated desire. He settled in London in 1824, married, and became Professor of Italian in King's College, London. After his first wife died he got married again however she died while giving birth to their child which also died. “Last Love” was written in 1870 and 287 poems in all.
The poem consists of six stanzas and twenty-eight lines. The poem is as most poems are centered in the page. The rhyme scheme is in ABCB in stanzas 1and 3,ABCDEFGA in stanza 2, ABCBA in stanza 4, ABCD in stanza 5 and ABC in stanza 6. The poem also consists of 7 sentences. In the poem there are multiple instances where “web” and “heart” is mentioned.
“Last Love” describes person who is in love but it didn’t last. This reader having the knowledge that Rossetti lost both his wives and that the second wife died during child birth may consider that this poem was written for the last person he loved. As in the in stanza 2 line 1 and 2 he stated that “one apart in the middle of the web begun and left unfinished” which means that when he was in love with this person the love ended prematurely in the middle and the y didn’t get to finish it to see how far they could go a better way to look at it is that this person love one died and they didn’t get the chance to see if it had lasted longer what would happen. This poem could be linked to both Rossetti’s wives as they both died. In stanza 5 lines 1 and 2 he states that “within those eyes of sedulous yearning throe” these two lines means that within the eyes of his love one he sees constant or persistent pity or sadness and agonizing trouble, throe could also mean the pain of child birth. In the last stanza he says “Ah if you had been lost for many years,And from the dead to-day were risen again!” this states the person he loved had died and that if she had risen from the dead he could spend more time with her and his web could finally be finished.

blog5

Our assignment was to review page 3 which is act 1, scene 1 and is a conversation between Theseus and Hippolyta . We were asked to answer question 1 on page2. The book states that Hippolyta and Theseus are engaged to be married as the book states that Theseus is the duke of Athens and, fought a battle with Amazons of which Hyppolyta was the queen and won her love with or as he stated “I wood thee with my sword and won thy love doing thee injuries” this states that it could be that she fell in love with him because she was an Amazon warrior and him been a worrier as well or it cold be that at one point they both fought and he once injured her ( won thy love doing thee injuries). On page3 Theseus starts out talking about their 'nuptial hour' or wedding day getting close. He also states that 'She lingers my desires, Like to a step-dame (stepmom) or a dowager (widow w/ money) long withering out a young mans revenue he could be saying that he wants her so much that the wedding seems like its taking forever as well as she could be older than him. Hippolyta then answers by saying “four nights will quickly dream away the time” when she says this it sound as if she wasn’t as exited as Theseus or maybe she is jus willing to wait. Theseus then tells Philostrate get everyone up, and to celebrate. He then speaks to Hippolyta and talks about how he won her love by his sword and injuring others, but soon there will be a celebration, triumph and "merry Making" which is having sex. I believe he is more excited to be having sex, since that’s what he starts out talking about and wanting in the first stanza.