Mr. Fear

So, I’ve been staring at this poem for weeks wondering what to write about it. I think I may finally know. I’ve never thought of fear as a being before, but it kind of makes sense. Though I think sometimes ideas are more frightening than people. Still, fear as a being makes the concept more realistic. Maybe it’s easier if I copy the poem here and comment stanza by stanza…. because I like it just that much.

My Fear

He follows us, he keeps track.
Each day his lists are longer.
Here, death, and here,
something like it.

Interesting. Now that I think of it, fear does follow us. It’s a lurking feeling that never really leaves us alone. We have to consciously push it out of our minds, and even then, we’re mostly not successful. Personally, I worry all the time about one thing or another. Most of the time it doesn’t turn into active fear, but the potential is always there.

Mr. Fear, we say in our dreams,
what do you have for me tonight?
And he looks through his sack,
his black sack of troubles.

Maybe he smiles when he finds
the right one. Maybe he’s sorry.
Tell me, Mr. Fear,
what must I carry

away from your dream.
Make it small, please.
Let it fit in my pocket,
let it fall through

the hole in my pocket.
Fear, let me have
a small brown bat
and a purse of crickets

like the ones I heard
singing last night
out there in the stubbly field
before I slept, and met you.

It would be nice to know what’s coming. If only we could ask Fear what he is going to give us, maybe we would be more prepared. But maybe that’s the point, that we’re never prepared. Part of living is figuring it out. I don’t know if anyone can say they have lived until they overcome some great obstacle, whatever it may be.

The First of Many Blogs

Bird imagery.. well let's see. The novel starts out with it! This particular bird seems to be a little misunderstood. Chopin's style is interesting... she writes with much description in some places and hardly any at all in others. These first four chapters are spend largely on introducing the characters. We are first introduced to Edna, the main character. She stands apart from the others in the fact that she is an American and not a Creole. In this way the reader is provided with a both her American view and a view of the Creole society. Edna is not a typical woman of her time in the fact that she is not a "mother woman." She does not see the need to make her children the focal point of her life. While Mr. Pontellier is "the best husband she could have" she isn't very happy. Maybe she doesn't want to be married at all.

Little Apocalypse

I enjoy this poem because Wright addresses the highly debated topic of the apocalypse. I find it fascinating, but frightening, especially as accounted in the book of Revelation in the Bible. No one really knows how to handle it or what to think on the matter, so it’s always interesting to read various opinions. I like how the poem builds as it goes on. The first stanza portrays nothing out of the ordinary and ends with the words “sedate, avaricious life” leading us to further believe that conclusion.
In the second stanza things start to heat up, but it doesn’t lead you to expect anything just yet. That’s the point though-because the apocalypse is supposed to happen when we least expect it. Obviously Wright is well informed on this topic. The last stanza is my favorite because the peril is becoming visible…

Inside the basements of the world,
the clear-out’s begun,
Lightning around the thunder-throat of the underearth,
A drop of fire and a drop of fire,
Bright bandages of fog
starting to comfort the aftermath.
Then, from the black horizon, four horses heave up, flash on their faces.

Preparations for the coming storm are being made. This is pretty epic… for lack of a better term. It is left to one’s imagination what will happen after the horses “heave up”, but that is the neat thing. The author permits his audience to think whatever they wish on the topic. It would be a little presumptuous of him to provide any conclusion, though.

I Always Forget to Blog...

For some reason blogging always evades my memory, and it's rather unfortunate. BUT on to the point. A second blog on Part II. It keeps getting crazier! We are introduced to the Russian who cares for Kurtz twice when he falls ill. In earlier parts of the book, Kurtz is portrayed as a hero and a remarkable man, but here we begin to see another side of him. Marlow explains:

"Everything belonged to him- but that was a trifle. The thing was to know what he belongd to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. That was the reflection that made you creepy all over. It was impossible-it was not good for one either-trying to imagine. He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land-I mean literally."

Originally this part could have been a little bit confusing, because Marlow jumps forward in time and explains what he gathered about Kurtz after meeting him. This passage is of great significance because it shows, again, how the darkness can take even those who appear strong and draw them in. Kurtz was a great, powerful figure, and in the end he abused this power because of his lust for ivory. He has been completely consumed by the darkness and there is no way to get back out, even if he wanted to.