A Father's Promise

“Daddy, do you have to leave again?” The five-year-old looked at her father with tears in her eyes.

“Arielle, no tears…I’ll be back before you know it.” Her father gently wiped away a tear that had managed to roll down his daughter’s cheek. “You do want that doll house you saw at the toy store yesterday don’t you?”

Arielle nodded.

“Well, sweetheart, I need to go do my job to make enough money. I promise you that when I’m back the first thing I’ll do is take you to the store so you can pick whichever doll house you like.” He picked up his daughter and set her gently on her bed making sure her blanket was tucked neatly around her.

Arielle giggled, her hazel eyes no longer sparkling with tears but with laughter. “It’s okay Daddy, you can take a shower first. You always smell like fishies when you come home.”

He chuckled and tickled her stomach, “Really now? And here I thought you loved it!”

“No! Ewww!” She laughed. Her father stopped tickling her and kissed her forehead. “Daddy…why do you gotta be a fisherman? Why can’t you just work on houses like Maggie’s dad?”

“Because this is what I do. We all have to do something we’re good at and I am really good at fishing, don’t you think?”

“Of course you are! You’re the bestest fisherman daddy in the whole wide world!” She exclaimed with a huge smile on her face.

“Is that right?” He looked at his daughter with a mixture of pain and pride in his eyes. “I’m going to miss you and your mother so much, but I promise I will be home soon.”

“Okay, Daddy. But how long will I have to wait?”

“Just a month, honey. In one month I bet you’ll see my boat on the sea on its way home,” he explained.

Arielle sighed. “Fine but I’ll miss you like crazy!”

“Me too, sweetheart, me too…Now, go to sleep and I’ll see you in one month.” He kissed his daughter’s cheek and made his way to her door.

“Goodnight Daddy,” she yawned.

“Goodnight Arielle.”

The next morning Arielle woke up and, sure enough, her father was gone. Every night she prayed her father would come home sooner, after all she was only five and she wasn’t exactly sure how long a month was. Every day, despite what her mother would tell her, she walked to shore and looked out into the sea. Any time she would see a boat that resembled her father‘s, her heart would pound in her chest.

And so it was for a month, until she was finally in her father’s arms again.


Structuralist Analysis (Analysis #2)

In “Course in General Linguistics”, Ferdinand de Saussure states, language “is a system of signs in which the only essential thing is the union of meanings”(59). With this in mind, it s possible, then to look at a painting as if it were its own language.

Whenever we look at language, the mind is trained to look at its separate aspects individually and then as a whole to produce one meaning. Reading a sentence, for example, requires the mind to look at each word (signifier) separately, generate some kind of image (signified) for the word, and therefore, create a sign with a specific meaning for that word. The meaning of the sentence is then created from the combination of the meanings from every word. When we look at a painting, the mind does the same thing, except instead of a words, we deal with separate images. This is why we often walk away from a painting with a certain emotion or with new knowledge.

The painting above depicts a little girl standing in front of the ocean. The eyes are immediately drawn to the little girl, making her the focus of the painting. The child’s arms are open, by her sides, and her feet are on the coast, barely touching the water. One of her legs, however, is raised, allowing only her toes to touch the sand. The little girl is also facing the ocean, not the viewer. This, along with the child’s body language, makes it seem as though she is anxiously waiting for something.

The painting also makes it possible for the viewer to look at the ocean in the little girl’s point of view. The viewer’s eyes are then drawn to the ocean and to the white smudges in the distance. The fact that the white smudges are floating allows the viewer to perceive them as boats. Because the child is looking into the ocean and the boats are the only objects on the ocean, the viewer gets a sense that the child is looking for a specific boat, or perhaps waiting for one to arrive. This then creates a feeling of longing that is transferred to the reader.

Works Cited

Saussure, Ferdinand D. "Course in General Linguistics." Literary Theory: an Anthology. By Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 59-71. Print.

Who Would Have Thought...

that Friends could be so educational?

The first group's presentation made me understand Plato, Aristotle, Longinus and Horace so much more. The fact that they used videos of something that is incredibly human and, therefore, related to us, made the material much more real. Also, because they used only one topic, child birth, for all three philosophers, it truly helped me better comprehend the differences between the three.

While watching the clips, I found myself wondering whether I agreed more with Plato or with Aristotle. I pictured myself as the ruler of my own world where whatever I said was law and I decided what was shown to the people. I wondered whether I would show the Ross and Rachel comedic imitation of child birth like Aristotle would, or the real, raw birth like Plato would. I came to the conclusion that both are necessary. If people were blind to the reality and truth of things, people would be making many bad decisions. Sometimes we need to be shocked to understand what is really going on and what is best. However, I also believe we sometimes need imitations. Like Aristotle points out, we can learn very much through copies. We do not have access to everything, and creations like television shows can offer us an insight into things we may never see. Even though it might not represent the crude reality, it still gives us an overall understanding of things. Not only that, but it also satisfies our curiosities.

I really enjoyed the fact that the group made me think. I can not wait to find out what thoughts the next group will invoke.

Snow White and Aristotle

Almost all of us are familiar with the Disney movie, Snow White. To many of us, this movie might simply be one of the countless fairytales we watched while growing up. It may come as a surprise to learn that this movie, that we watched as a form of entertainment, demonstrates one of Aristotle's main arguments. In Snow White, we meet a young princess, Snow White, and her evil stepmother, the Queen, who is incredibly jealous of the girl's beauty. This jealousy leads her to do an unthinkable act. Let us now look at how the Queen's actions depict Aristotle's beliefs about tragedy.

The Queen's Transformation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9GJtM9lN-I&feature=related

Snow White's Death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE08AxkIQQ4

According to Aristotle, in order for a tragedy to be truly effective it should be a "representation of an action that is serious, complete, and of some magnitude" (64). It must also have a beginning, middle and an end. Aristotle also states that the most important element of tragedy is "the plot, the ordering of the incidents; for tragedy is a representation, not of people, but of action and life" (65). From the clips above, it is clear that not only is the issue at hand serious because it is dealing with life and death, but there is also a smooth movement from one event to the other, ultimately leading to Snow White's death.

Snow White is presented as a sweet, young, innocent girl who is unfairly hurt. In the eyes of the viewer, she's simply a child who has done absolutely nothing wrong. This goes hand in hand with another of Aristotle's key points: the victim "characters should be good" (76). This allows the viewer to feel sympathy for the character. Also, the fact that something so tragic is happening to such a good character is what inspires fear and pity in human beings. Aristotle states that "our pity is awakened by undeserved misfortune, and our fear by that of someone just like ourselves--pity for the undeserving sufferer and fear for the man like ourselves" (73). Had Snow White been a wicked, crazy, murderer, for example, we would not feel any pity for her. Her death would have been justified by her evil doings.

Another component of Aristotle's tragedy is reversal, or "a change from one state of affairs to its opposite" (70). This is apparent when the Queen, disguised as an old lady/witch, offers Snow White the poisoned apple. She misleads her by telling her that it is a magical apple that will make her wishes come true. In reality, it is the fruit that leads her to her death. This was the complete opposite of what Snow White expected.

The Queen also fulfills Aristotle's idea that "sufferings involve those who are near and dear to one another" (74). Although, the Queen never showed any love for Snow White, she was still her stepmother. Her actions are then seen as much more appalling and fearful.

Who would have thought that a fairytale could demonstrate such a complex idea?

Works Cited

Classical Literary Criticism (Penguin Classics). New York: Penguin Classic, 2001. Print