162 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2019
    1. “Jus’ wanted to feel that girl’s dress—jus’ wanted to pet it like it was amouse—Well, how the hell did she know you jus’ wanted to feel her dress? Shejerks back and you hold on like it was a mouse. She yells and we got to hide in airrigation ditch all day with guys lookin’ for us, and we got to sneak out in thedark and get outa the country. All the time somethin’ like that—all the time. Iwisht I could put you in a cage with about a million mice an’ let you have fun.”His anger left him suddenly. He looked across the fire at Lennie’s anguishedface, and then he looked ashamedly at the flames.

      jhlkjhlkjh

    2. God a’mighty, if I was alone I could live so easy. I could go geta job an’ work, an’ no trouble. No mess at all, and when the end of the monthcome I could take my fifty bucks and go into town and get whatever I want.Why, I could stay in a cat house all night. I could eat any place I want, hotel orany place, and order any damn thing I could think of. An’ I could do all thatevery damn month. Get a gallon of whisky, or set in a pool room and play cardsor shoot pool.” Lennie knelt and looked over the fire at the angry George. AndLennie’s face was drawn with terror. “An’ whatta I got,” George went onfuriously. “I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time. An’ that ain’t the worst. Youget in trouble. You do bad things and I got to get you out.”

      khgkjg

    3. “Aw, Lennie!” George put his hand on Lennie’s shoulder. “Iain’t takin’ it away jus’ for meanness. That mouse ain’t fresh, Lennie; andbesides, you’ve broke it pettin’ it. You get another mouse that’s fresh and I’ll letyou keep it a little while.”

      jkhgkjhgk

    4. Slowly, like a terrier whodoesn’t want to bring a ball to its master, Lennie approached, drew back,approached again. George snapped his fingers sharply, and at the sound Lennielaid the mouse in his hand.

      lkjhlkh

    5. There were sounds of splashings downthe river in the direction Lennie had taken. George stopped whistling andlistened. “Poor bastard,” he said softly, and then went on whistling again.In a moment Lennie came crashing back through the brush. He carried onesmall willow stick in his hand. George sat up. “Awright,” he said brusquely.“Gi’me that mouse!”

      lhkjhlkjh

    6. “An’ you ain’t gonna do no bad things like you done inWeed, neither.”

      ljhlkjhl

    7. Lennie, who had been watching, imitatedGeorge exactly. He pushed himself back, drew up his knees, embraced them,looked over to George to see whether he had it just right. He pulled his hatdown a little more over his eyes, the way George’s hat was.

      Lennie admires/looks up to/idolizes George.

  2. Oct 2015
    1. It does not appear to me that my hand is unworthy of your acceptance, or that the establishment I can offer would be any other than highly desirable.

      It's impossible for Collins to imagine that his offer wouldn't be eagerly accepted.

    2. To Elizabeth it appeared that, had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could during the evening, it would have been impossible for them to play their parts with more spirit or finer success; and happy did she think it for Bingley and her sister that some of the exhibition had escaped his notice, and that his feelings were not of a sort to be much distressed by the folly which he must have witnessed. That his two sisters and Mr. Darcy, however, should have such an opportunity of ridiculing her relations, was bad enough, and she could not determine whether the silent contempt of the gentleman, or the insolent smiles of the ladies, were more intolerable.

      Elizabeth's family has made a disaster of the evening.

    3. Mary's powers were by no means fitted for such a display; her voice was weak, and her manner affected.

      Now Mary's joining in on the embarrassment, singing when no one really wants her to.

    4. In vain did Elizabeth endeavour to check the rapidity of her mother's words

      Mrs. Bennet is embarrassing her daughter, and possibly tainting Jane's chances with Bingley by being so outspoken.

    5. Elizabeth tried hard to dissuade him from such a scheme, assuring him that Mr. Darcy would consider his addressing him without introduction as an impertinent freedom, rather than a compliment to his aunt; that it was not in the least necessary there should be any notice on either side; and that if it were, it must belong to Mr. Darcy, the superior in consequence, to begin the acquaintance. Mr. Collins listened to her with the determined air of following his own inclination, and, when she ceased speaking, replied thus:

      Mr. Collins doesn't take a hint very well, Pt. 1.

    6. I hear you are quite delighted with George Wickham! Your sister has been talking to me about him, and asking me a thousand questions; and I find that the young man quite forgot to tell you, among his other communication, that he was the son of old Wickham, the late Mr. Darcy's steward. Let me recommend you, however, as a friend, not to give implicit confidence to all his assertions; for as to Mr. Darcy's using him ill, it is perfectly false; for, on the contrary, he has always been remarkably kind to him, though George Wickham has treated Mr. Darcy in a most infamous manner. I do not know the particulars, but I know very well that Mr. Darcy is not in the least to blame, that he cannot bear to hear George Wickham mentioned, and that though my brother thought that he could not well avoid including him in his invitation to the officers, he was excessively glad to find that he had taken himself out of the way. His coming into the country at all is a most insolent thing, indeed, and I wonder how he could presume to do it.

      Caroline has a different take on the Wickham/Darcy feud.

    7. Sir William's allusion to his friend seemed to strike him forcibly, and his eyes were directed with a very serious expression towards Bingley and Jane, who were dancing together.

      Darcy disapproves.

    8. when a certain desirable event, my dear Eliza (glancing at her sister and Bingley) shall take place.

      Sir William is implying that Jane and Bingley will be married soon.

    9. To find a man agreeable whom one is determined to hate!

      Here's that prejudice again.

    10. Mr. Darcy who took her so much by surprise in his application for her hand, that, without knowing what she did, she accepted him.

      Elizabeth agrees to dance with Darcy, finally.

    11. prepared in the highest spirits for the conquest of all that remained unsubdued of his heart, trusting that it was not more than might be won in the course of the evening.

      Lizzie's confident she can win over Wickham completely tonight.

    12. she and her cousin will unite the two estates

      Lady Catherine wants her daughter to marry Darcy and consolidate the two families' fortunes (yes, they are first cousins).

    13. the patronage of the Right Honourable Lady Catherine de Bourgh

      Lady Catherine de Bourgh is Mr. Collins' source of income.

    14. received ordination

      Mr. Collins is a minister.

    15. my cousin, Mr. Collins, who, when I am dead, may turn you all out of this house as soon as he pleases.

      Mr. Collins is the heir to Longbourn.

    16. I do not believe she often sees such at home.

      Mrs. Bennet is horrible to the Lucases.

    17. To Mr. Darcy it was welcome intelligence—Elizabeth had been at Netherfield long enough. She attracted him more than he liked—and Miss Bingley was uncivil to her, and more teasing than usual to himself. He wisely resolved to be particularly careful that no sign of admiration should now escape him, nothing that could elevate her with the hope of influencing his felicity; sensible that if such an idea had been suggested, his behaviour during the last day must have material weight in confirming or crushing it. Steady to his purpose, he scarcely spoke ten words to her through the whole of Saturday, and though they were at one time left by themselves for half-an-hour, he adhered most conscientiously to his book, and would not even look at her.

      Darcy is scared of his feelings for Elizabeth, so he decides to give her the silent treatment for the final day of her stay. Image Description

    18. Miss Bingley was then sorry that she had proposed the delay, for her jealousy and dislike of one sister much exceeded her affection for the other.

      Caroline is ready for Lizzie to be out of the way.

    19. "You either choose this method of passing the evening because you are in each other's confidence, and have secret affairs to discuss, or because you are conscious that your figures appear to the greatest advantage in walking; if the first, I would be completely in your way, and if the second, I can admire you much better as I sit by the fire."

      BOOM. Roasted.

    20. Do let the portraits of your uncle and aunt Phillips be placed in the gallery at Pemberley. Put them next to your great-uncle the judge. They are in the same profession, you know, only in different lines.

      Caroline sarcastically suggests that, when Darcy and Elizabeth are married, he should hang a picture of Elizabeth's uncle (a common, middle-class lawyer) next to the painting of his great uncle, a judge, since they are "in the same profession."

    21. Miss Bingley saw, or suspected enough to be jealous; and her great anxiety for the recovery of her dear friend Jane received some assistance from her desire of getting rid of Elizabeth.

      Miss Bingley's horrible.

    22. I do not want to dance a reel at all

      The second time Elizabeth's refused Darcy's request to dance.

    23. could not be prevailed on to join in their censure of her

      Darcy refuses to make fun of Elizabeth with the Bingley sisters.

    24. leaving her own and her relations' behaviour to the remarks of the two ladies and Mr. Darcy

      Elizabeth knows Caroline and Louisa will talk smack about her family as soon as she leaves.

    25. lest her mother should be exposing herself again.

      Please don't start talking again, mom.

    26. I do not like to boast of my own child

      Yes, you do.

    27. the Lucases are a very good sort of girls, I assure you. It is a pity they are not handsome!

      Oh, Mrs. Bennet. Stop talking.

    28. those persons who fancy themselves very important, and never open their mouths, quite mistake the matter.

      Mrs. Bennet manages to sneak in a dig at Darcy.

    29. He only meant that there was not such a variety of people to be met with in the country as in the town, which you must acknowledge to be true.

      Elizabeth stands up for Darcy to her mom.

    30. "The country," said Darcy, "can in general supply but a few subjects for such a study. In a country neighbourhood you move in a very confined and unvarying society."

      Darcy doesn't believe rural life could be interesting.

    31. I often tell my other girls they are nothing to her.

      Image Description

    32. cold civility

      Caroline can't bring herself to be warm to Mrs. Bennet.

    33. being satisfied on seeing her that her illness was not alarming, she had no wish of her recovering immediately, as her restoration to health would probably remove her from Netherfield.

      Again, Mrs. Bennet is putting Jane's marriage prospects in front of her health.

    34. A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half-deserved."

      Caroline Bingley's definition of an accomplished woman.

    35. That she should have walked three miles so early in the day, in such dirty weather, and by herself, was almost incredible to Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley

      OMG look at her. Image Description

    36. Elizabeth continued her walk alone, crossing field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles with impatient activity, and finding herself at last within view of the house, with weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.

      GOALS. Image Description

    37. "If we make haste," said Lydia, as they walked along, "perhaps we may see something of Captain Carter before he goes."

      Elizabeth is setting out to help her sister; Catherine and Lydia just want to meet boys. Image Description

    38. Mr. Darcy, with grave propriety, requested to be allowed the honour of her hand, but in vain.

      Elizabeth rejects Darcy's invitation to dance.

    39. But no sooner had he made it clear to himself and his friends that she hardly had a good feature in her face, than he began to find it was rendered uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes. To this discovery succeeded some others equally mortifying. Though he had detected with a critical eye more than one failure of perfect symmetry in her form, he was forced to acknowledge her figure to be light and pleasing; and in spite of his asserting that her manners were not those of the fashionable world, he was caught by their easy playfulness.

      Darcy discovers that he's attracted to Elizabeth, against his better judgment.

    40. "Your plan is a good one," replied Elizabeth, "where nothing is in question but the desire of being well married, and if I were determined to get a rich husband, or any husband, I dare say I should adopt it.

      Here Elizabeth highlights a difference between Charlotte and herself: where Charlotte's only goal is to be "well married," Elizabeth has other things on her mind.

    41. If a woman conceals her affection with the same skill from the object of it, she may lose the opportunity of fixing him

      Charlotte is suggesting that it's a bad idea to play "hard to get"--if you want to score a man, you've got to tell him how you feel.

    42. who piqued herself upon the solidity of her reflections

      Mary thinks she's about to say something smart.

    43. I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine."

      Pride is fine, says Elizabeth, as long as it does no injury to others.

    44. "His pride," said Miss Lucas, "does not offend me so much as pride often does, because there is an excuse for it. One cannot wonder that so very fine a young man, with family, fortune, everything in his favour, should think highly of himself. If I may so express it, he has a right to be proud."

      Charlotte makes the point that Darcy has a right to the pride he shows--he has a life to be proud of.

    45. civil self-command

      Mrs. Bennet is forcing herself to be polite to Charlotte, who she doesn't think was worthy of Bingley's attention.

    46. about twenty-seven

      At 27, Charlotte is especially old to be unmarried. By comparison, Lizzie is 20 and Jane is 22.

    47. where he could think with pleasure of his own importance

      Sir William thinks very highly of himself even though, as Maya pointed out, his title is largely honorary.

    48. Sir William Lucas

      Sir William is the father of Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte. Image Description

    49. Sir William Lucas

      This is the father of Elizabeth's best friend, Charlotte.

    50. Miss Bennet he acknowledged to be pretty, but she smiled too much.

      Darcy even finds something to criticize in flawless Jane: she smiles too much. Image Description

    51. Between him and Darcy there was a very steady friendship, in spite of great opposition of character. Bingley was endeared to Darcy by the easiness, openness, and ductility of his temper, though no disposition could offer a greater contrast to his own, and though with his own he never appeared dissatisfied. On the strength of Darcy's regard, Bingley had the firmest reliance, and of his judgement the highest opinion. In understanding, Darcy was the superior. Bingley was by no means deficient, but Darcy was clever. He was at the same time haughty, reserved, and fastidious, and his manners, though well-bred, were not inviting. In that respect his friend had greatly the advantage. Bingley was sure of being liked wherever he appeared, Darcy was continually giving offense.

      This paragraph offers a contrast between Bingley and his best friend, Darcy. Image Description

    52. They were in fact very fine ladies; not deficient in good humour when they were pleased, nor in the power of making themselves agreeable when they chose it, but proud and conceited.

      Elizabeth doesn't approve of Bingley's sisters.

    53. I would not wish to be hasty in censuring anyone

      Jane is not quick to judge. How is Elizabeth different from her sister?

    54. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in your life.

      Elizabeth characterizing Jane: she never sees bad in people.

    55. But that is one great difference between us. Compliments always take you by surprise, and me never.

      Jane, though very beautiful and charming, seems to be almost unconscious of it.

    56. "But I can assure you," she added, "that Lizzy does not lose much by not suiting his fancy; for he is a most disagreeable, horrid man, not at all worth pleasing. So high and so conceited that there was no enduring him! He walked here, and he walked there, fancying himself so very great! Not handsome enough to dance with! I wish you had been there, my dear, to have given him one of your set-downs. I quite detest the man."

      A chapter-ending negative review of Mr. Darcy, courtesy of Mrs. Bennet.

    57. he did not admire her at all; indeed, nobody can, you know

      Mrs. Bennet's kind of a horrible person, saying that nobody could admire Charlotte (i.e., that Charlotte is ugly).

    58. Miss Lucas

      Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth's best friend. Image Description

    59. Longbourn, the village where they lived, and of which they were the principal inhabitants.

      Longbourn is a fictional town in Hertfordshire.

    60. She told the story, however, with great spirit among her friends; for she had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.

      Direct characterization of Elizabeth--she is playful enough to tell this embarrassing story to entertain her friends.

    61. "She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me; I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men. You had better return to your partner and enjoy her smiles, for you are wasting your time with me."

      Darcy isn't particularly attracted to Elizabeth. Image Description

    62. the eldest Miss Bennet.

      They're talking about Jane. Image Description

    63. Mr. Darcy danced only once with Mrs. Hurst and once with Miss Bingley, declined being introduced to any other lady, and spent the rest of the evening in walking about the room, speaking occasionally to one of his own party.

      This might suggest many things about Darcy, but because the story has been told, up to this point, chiefly from the point of view of the Bennets (and largely Mrs. Bennet), Darcy comes across as a sort of snob.

    64. he was discovered to be proud; to be above his company, and above being pleased; and not all his large estate in Derbyshire could then save him from having a most forbidding, disagreeable countenance, and being unworthy to be compared with his friend.

      Darcy almost immediately gets a bad reputation. Image Description

    65. Mr. Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year.

      First impressions of Mr. Darcy. Image Description

    66. His sisters were fine women, with an air of decided fashion.

      Bingley's sisters, Caroline Bingley (unmarried) and Louisa Hurst (married) are described as, above all else, very stylish. Image Description

    67. Mr. Bingley was good-looking and gentlemanlike; he had a pleasant countenance, and easy, unaffected manners.

      Our first direct characterization of Bingley.

    68. he wore a blue coat, and rode a black horse

      Such minimal information about Bingley is a great treasure to the Bennet girls.

    69. "If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield," said Mrs. Bennet to her husband, "and all the others equally well married, I shall have nothing to wish for."

      This is a very tall order, but Mrs. Bennet presents it as if it were a humble request.

    70. To be fond of dancing was a certain step towards falling in love

      Like the first line of the novel, this seems to be quite an exaggeration. In my mind, I read it in the voice of Mrs. Bennet, who would actually consider this to be true.

    71. Lady Lucas

      Lady Lucas and her husband, Sir William, are properly introduced in chapter 5.

    72. Not all that Mrs. Bennet, however, with the assistance of her five daughters, could ask on the subject, was sufficient to draw from her husband any satisfactory description of Mr. Bingley. They attacked him in various ways—with barefaced questions, ingenious suppositions, and distant surmises; but he eluded the skill of them all

      Mr. Bennet refuses to give straight answers to his wife's and daughters' questions about Bingley. He seems to be toying with them.

    73. Netherfield Park

      Most of the locations in Pride and Prejudice are fictional, but Austen writes that Netherfield, Meryton, and the Bennets' home of Longbourn are all located in Hertfordshire County, in southern England. Image Description

    74. Mary? For you are a young lady of deep reflection, I know, and read great books and make extracts."

      Mary, rarely mentioned in the novel, is the third (and, therefore, middle) Bennet sister. She is also, it is frequently said, the "plainest." Image Description

    75. Kitty

      Katherine, the fourth of the Bennet sisters. Image Description

    76. Bingley

      Mr. Bingley's arrival in Netherfield is the catalyst that kickstarts the novel's plot. Image Description

    77. a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.

      A direct characterization of Mrs. Bennet. Image Description

    78. Lydia

      At fifteen, the youngest Bennet sister. Image Description

    79. Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice,

      A direct characterization of Mr. Bennet. Image Description

    80. Jane

      The oldest of the Bennet sisters, and generally considered the most beautiful. Image Description

    81. Lizzy

      Elizabeth Bennet, the second oldest of the five Bennet sisters and her father's favorite; the protagonist of the novel. Image Description

    82. Michaelmas

      The feast of St. Michael: September 29 Image Description

    83. chaise and four

      A four-wheeled carriage pulled by four horses. Image Description

    1. He little knew,” Captain Fellows said, “he little knew.”

      Fellows is suggesting that, though the policeman wants to speak to him, his thirteen-year-old daughter is the real authority.

    2. The priest fell uneasily asleep

      The priest tries unsuccessfully to get some rest throughout this scene.

    3. You do it with cards. Have you any cards?

      Another sign that he's not a "good priest"--playing cards were often seen as sinful. Image Description

    4. Renounce your faith

      claim not to be a Christian anymore

    5. difference between drinking a little brandy after dinner and—well, needing it.

      Captain Fellows suggests that the priest is an alcoholic.

    6. the future, full of compromises, anxieties, and shame, lay outside: the gate was closed which would one day let it in. But at any moment now a word, a gesture, the most trivial act might be her sesame

      Coral is on the edge of adolescence--she will not be a little girl for very much longer.

    7. They carry their right on their hips

      The lieutenant's gun gives him authority to do what he pleases.

    8. his attitude seemed to indicate that he wouldn’t even accept the benefit of shade from a foreigner

      Here the lieutenant shows his hatred for anything foreign in his country. In Chapter One, it says,

      this was his own land, and he would have walled it in with steel if he could.

    9. strange place

      Fellows and his wife are foreigners--perhaps Americans.

    10. there was so much treason everywhere

      Fellows isn't interested in treason--everyone, he seems to suggest, commits treason.

    11. He felt through the net for his wife’s hand—secretively: they were adults together. This was the stranger in their house. He said boisterously: “You’re frightening us.”

      The Fellows' seem afraid of their daughter. Why?

    12. She stood in the doorway watching them with a look of immense responsibility. Before her serious gaze they became a boy you couldn’t trust and a ghost you could almost puff away: a piece of frightened air.

      Coral is described as a girl almost beyond her years, more adult than her own parents.

    13. Terror was always just behind her shoulder

      Mrs. Fellows seems to be always afraid. Why?

    14. policeman

      The Lieutenant

    15. Coral

      The Fellows' daughter, a young teenaged girl.

    16. scared thin face

      Captain Fellows' wife, Beatrix, is not well.

    17. in war-time France, in the ravaged landscape of trenches

      Captain Fellows is a veteran of World War I. Image Description

    1. Governor

      Tomas Garrido Canabal Image Description

    2. playing billiards

      Like the rest of the police, the jefe is lazy and doesn't take his job seriously.

    3. His gaiters were polished, and his pistol-holster: his buttons were all sewn on.

      The lieutenant stands in contrast to the disorder around him. He takes pride in his appearance and his job.

    4. young men in red shirts

      Canabal's troops

    1. Ora pro nobis

      Latin: "Pray for us." Part of the Ave Maria, frequently recited during Mass. Image Description

    2. Are you a Catholic?

      Catholicism was outlawed at the time in Tabasco, where The Power and the Glory takes place; the man's interest in whether Tench is a believer is perhaps our first clue about who he really is.

    3. bits of an amorous scene stuck out

      The stranger seems to be carrying a romance novel. Image Description

    4. garrulous

      talkative

    5. There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

      Discuss: What does this mean? Have you experienced an "open door moment" like this?

    6. heard a revolver-holster creak

      The second person Mr. Tench encounter with a gun.

    7. Far back inside the darkness

      This calls to mind Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in which an Englishman heads up the Congo River into the jungle of Africa. Image Description

    8. attaché case

      a briefcase Image Description

    9. He stood stiffly in the shade, a small man dressed in a shabby dark city suit, carrying a small attaché case.

      This is our first description of the novel's unnamed protagonist; in this chapter he is, at various times, called "a small man," "the little man," "the stranger," "the hollow man," or simply, "the man."

    10. six leagues away

      A league is a measure of about three miles; six leagues would be close to eighteen miles.

    11. Red Shirts

      Paramilitary group organized by Tomás Garrido Canabal to crack down on the Church's activities. The Red Shirts burned churches and hunted priests, among other things.

    12. It’s good to talk English, even to a foreigner.

      It's ironic that Mr. Tench makes this observation about the stranger when he himself is the true foreigner.

    13. Tudor rose

      Image Description A traditional symbol of England.

    14. laughing Cavalier

      Image Description A painting by the seventeenth-century Dutch portraitist Frans Hals.

    15. General Obregon

      Image Description The vessel gets its name from Álvaro Obregon, a revolutionary general and President of Mexico from 1920-1924. He won election a second time, in 1928, but was assassinated before he could take office, by a man who opposed his administration's anti-Catholic laws.

    16. hollow man

      Here Greene directly alludes to Eliot's poem.

    17. The Power and the Glory

      The title is from the Lord's Prayer, from Matthew 6:9-13, in which Jesus says to his disciples:

      After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

      It finishes the line, "For Thine is the Kingdom..." Perhaps significantly, T.S. Eliot's 1926 poem "The Hollow Men" contains the unfinished line. It is as if Greene is finishing Eliot's misremembered line for him. The title to Eliot's poem itself is taken from a description of Mr. Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

    1. like a color slide

      In the old days, we used to get slides made of pictures. You'd have to hold them up to the light to see what the picture was of. Image Description

    2. I

      Speaker: a teacher of poetry?

    3. them

      Audience: students of poetry?

    1. natural son

      illegitimate child: born to a woman who was not married to his father

    2. clerophobe

      What does this mean?

    3. anticlericalism

      What does this mean?

    4. Mexico is a land of intense faith.

      What are the author's assumptions about religion in Mexico?

    1. our conference about fair ladies

      What do scholars sit around talking about? Cute girls. Image Description

    2. Faustus' custom is not to deny The just requests of those that wish him well

      Is this really a just request?

    3. To glut the longing of my heart's desire

      Faustus, despite all he's been given, is still missing one thing: Image Description

    4. HELEN

      Is it significant that Helen has no lines? Is she even real, or just an idealized (and thus silent) version of femininity? Image Description

    5. More lovely than the monarch of the sky

      Blasphemy: Helen is more beautiful even than God.

    6. Here will I dwell, for heaven is164 in these lips

      Faustus is facing eternal damnation, but claims to find heaven with Helen. Compare to Satan in Paradise Lost:

      The mind is its own place, and in itself/ Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

    7. Come, Helen, come, give me my soul again.

      This reminds me of the scene in Romeo and Juliet when the two first meet and kiss. Romeo says,

      Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again. Image Description

    8. the face that launch'd a thousand ships

      This line is alluded to in one of my favorite songs, "Ghost," off the Indigo Girls' album Rites of Passage:

      Now I see your face before me;/ I would launch a thousand ships/ To bring your heart back to my island/ As the sand beneath me slips...

    9. heavenly Helen

      alliteration

    10. blest

      irony again

    11. heavenly

      The word "heavenly" is ironic, given the origin of Faustus's powers.

    12. Helen of Greece

      Helen, daughter of Zeus and the mortal Leda, and wife to King Menelaus of Sparta, was reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the ancient world. Her abduction (some would say seduction) by Paris was the spark that ignited the Trojan War. Image Description

    13. let us see that peerless dame of Greece

      Faustus has incredible powers, and his friends want him to use them to show him a cute girl. Image Description

  3. Sep 2015
  4. www.gutenberg.org www.gutenberg.org
    14
    1. All is not lost

      Satan is an optimist!

    2. sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all, but torture without end Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. Such place Eternal Justice has prepared For those rebellious; here their prison ordained In utter darkness, and their portion set, As far removed from God and light of Heaven As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.

      Here words like "woe," "sorrow," and "torture" invoke a sort of sympathy for the fallen angels. God's "Eternal Justice" seems perhaps a little...extreme.

    3. he, with his horrid crew, Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, though immortal

      At the beginning of the poem, Satan and his minions are looking around themselves in Hell after being defeated by God.

    4. Omnipotent

      God

    5. I

      Milton himself is asking the Spirit's help in telling the story.

    6. Oreb

      Mount Horeb, where Moses was spoken to by a burning bush.

    7. his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High, If he opposed, and with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud, With vain attempt.

      refers to the story of Lucifer, who was cast out of Heaven

    8. deceived The mother of mankind

      Eve

    9. with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss, And mad'st it pregnant:

      Holy Spirit has been present since the beginning, when God made the world out of nothing.

    10. shepherd

      Moses

    11. Sinai

      The mountain where Moses received the ten commandments.

    12. fruit

      Can mean literal fruit (like an apple) or the consequences of sin.

    13. Paradise Lost

      The poem was first published in 1667, and underwent minor revisions for a second edition in 1674.

    14. Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed In the beginning how the heavens and earth Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above th' Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.

      There are sixteen lines of verse before Milton reaches his first period. He uses this first sentence to call forth the "Heavenly Muse" (possibly the Holy Spirit) to help him compose his "adventurous song."