A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight.
Highlights the significance and power of minorities
31 Matching Annotations
- Nov 2020
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xroads.virginia.edu xroads.virginia.edu
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Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.
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A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.
This is a very significant passage.
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There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man.
This showcases the extreme rarity and importance of virtuous people. Relates back to the Benjamin Franklin biography.
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He who gives himself entirely to his fellow-men appears to them useless and selfish; but he who gives himself partially to them is pronounced a benefactor and philanthropist.
This is super interesting. The idea that one who fully devotes himself is too much, but one who gives half of himself is amazing. Why is this so?
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The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.
This is interesting because it highlights how government obstructs the freewill and independence of the people. This can relate back to Walden, who emphasizes individualism derived from lack of interaction with society. The idea that one flourishes most on their own.
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The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government.
"Deserve to prevail" is significant. It highlights the revolutionary ideals of breaking stigmas and alludes to this as reason for them to succeed. It shows that solely because they're going against the norm, they deserve success.
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- Oct 2020
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www.poetryfoundation.org www.poetryfoundation.org
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For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
This poem referred to immortality in lines above... is this alluding to death of the narrator? Supernatural powers?
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Darkness there and nothing more
is this his imagination? The imagination and how the mind tricks people is a common theme throughut Poe's stories.
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filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before
Why?
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poestories.com poestories.com
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My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness;
The narrator is the beast!! Not the innocent kitten!
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And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood.
He murdered his wife! He seems solely focused on concealing her murder. Why isn't he guilty? Why isn't he disgusted? Sad?
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I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course,
A frequent theme throughout Poe's stories is death. Specifically, the narrator murdering innocent creatures or humans as a result of an idea that overpowered their mind. They fabricate reasons for their death, like the eye in the tell-tale heart.
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but gradually -- very gradually -- I came to look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious presence, as from the breath of a pestilence.
It seems to be a pattern in the narrator's life that "gradually" he becomes violent
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I continued my caresses,
This is a peculiar way of describing how he pets the cat... "caresses"...
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hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart;
Why would he follow through if he was feeling remorse amidst it?
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I had so much of my old heart left
clearly not
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I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket !
Why is there an exclamation point? Narrator is quickly becoming worse and worse... similar to tell tale heart in relation to the eye- why does Poe write so often about eyes?
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At length, I even offered her personal violence.
What is the reasoning behind this extreme change in attitude and actions of the narrator? What is the cuase of this? Going from so tender at heart... to violent...
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My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions.
Sounds a bit full of himself, narcissistic perhaps
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- Sep 2020
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americanliterature.com americanliterature.com
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Oh, but I have a strange and fugitive self shut out and howling like a wolf or a coyote under the ideal windows.
This is denoting to the earlier lines, where he talks about the two sides of him, and how one side gets suppressed. I find this really interesting because of the part that says howling like a wolf or coyote, because in a way this means this side of his identity is yearning to be revealed
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- Apr 2020
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sg.instructure.com sg.instructure.com
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May
Factual statement: Two lines above this line that ends with May, the line ends with Gay; this demonstrates rhyming. Throughout this poem the majority the ending of lines rhyme with the ending of the line two words down.
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throng
Factual question: I looked up the word throng and learned that it means: "a large, densely packed crowd of people or animals" or "(of a crowd) fill or be present in (a place or area)". However, I am confused with what it means in this context because it is related to echoes in a mountain.
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the young lambs
Thematic statement: A frequent theme in this poem is it's relation to divinity: celestial, piety, heaven's, etc. Through referencing young lambs in this poem, the poems themes of nature and religion join. A lamb is an animal, but it also symbolizes christianity.
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- Mar 2020
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sg.instructure.com sg.instructure.com
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Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things
interesting, comparison between life and death
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Nothing beside remains
interesting that what is written on the pedestal shows Ozymandias power while everything else that the travellers sees is lifeless etc.
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The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed
significance in the contrast between a mocking hand and feeding heart
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away.
rhyming (decay two lines above)
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despair
rhyming (bare two lines below)
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fed
rhyming again (read, two lines above)
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command,
rhyming (sand two lines above)
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