The picture of Dorian Gray

Posted on by shazbazzblog

Have I any Oscar Wilde fans out there? I’ll put my hand right up and announce that I’m in love with his works. One such work is “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. This is a fine story which revolves around the life of Dorian Gray. This story basically shows the deterioration of his life. At the beginning of the story a talented artist, Basil Hallward, paints a picture of the beautiful and innocent Dorian Gray. This picture depicted his tremendous beauty perfectly. Lord Henry took advantage of Dorian’s innocence, and over the years turned him into a man with a bad reputation and wicked exploits.

The plot thickens when Dorian breaks the heart of his fiancé, Sibyl, and she ends up committing suicide. When Dorian goes to look at the beautiful portrait of himself, he sees his face has turned into a sneer. As he embarks into a life of sin and corruption, the portrait becomes uglier showing his true self.

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Dorian Gray and his portrait

Again, this story to me was similar to that of Jekyll and Hyde. Hyde was the bad side, showing his true nature with his evil and ugly looks. When Dorian lost his innocence, his beauty and kindness left the portrait also.

This all reminds me of another story by Roald Dahl, another one of my favourite authors. There is a quote from one of his books “The Twits” where he writes

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it”

If you have good thoughts, it can be shown through you. Whereas a person with ill meaning and bad thoughts emits these ideas and emotions through their looks and identity.

I think this is a reoccurring theme through many authors pieces, including Oscar Wilde’s. I believe this is why I took to Dorian Gray so much. I like to think that your personality shines through your image, so that you try take care more that you have good thoughts so it can be shown to the world you’re a good person.

Has anyone else found a book/piece that has this theme in it?

Until next time!

Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

Posted on by shazbazzblog

Have you ever heard the phrase someone has a Jekyll and Hyde personality? My guessing is that you have. They are names most people have heard of, but not all know the story behind it. Luckily for me I recently studied the book “Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, and now know the background story.

The story revolves around a London situated lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson. This lawyer is investigating the strange occurrences of his old friend Dr Henry Jekyll and the evil Edward Hyde. Mr Hyde has a bad reputation, and is even accused of murder until he disappears suddenly. Dr Jekyll’s involvement with him also appears strange, and he begins acting very odd. In the end we find out that the two men in question are in fact the same person! Dr Jekyll figured out a way to separate his good side with his bad with a potion. So when he took this potion all his badness turned him in to the evil Mr Hyde. He began involuntarily turning into Mr Hyde though, and knew he soon would not be able to stop himself from fully becoming his evil counterpart! It ends on a sad note with Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde killing themselves.

So now you know where the phrase comes from. If someone says  you’re like Jekyll and Hyde, it’s probably not a good thing! It essentially means you have a good and a bad side to your personality.

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What I find interesting about this book, is the appearance of the two men. Hyde is described as being hideously repulsive, deformed, ugly and hairy. It’s like the badness in him is being represented on his outside also, so the world can see him for what he truly is; a terribly horrible person.

Did any of you know the origin of this phrase?

Until next time!

A rose for Emily

Posted on by shazbazzblog

Another week and yet another talented author I shall be writing about! This week I would like to discuss the short story “A rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. I am finding it increasingly more difficult to pick just one author who is my favourite. I am reading the works of many different writers and it’s hard to choose the one who I think is the best.

So far in my American literature class I have read all of the novels that were on our reading list.The short story A Rose for Emily however is one I had not read before. In fact, I have never read any of Faulkner’s stories before. I had, of course, heard of him as a writer but it has taken me until now to take a look at his works.

Now, I do believe he is an astounding writer and I will be looking into more of his works, but A Rose for Emily disappointed me somewhat. OK please, wait a minute now before you all going criticizing me for criticizing on of the greats. I thought that the writing in this story was beautifully well thought and conceptualized, it just did not grasp me enough.

Had I not been studying the likes of Gatsby and Great expectations, sure I might be a little less harsh on this work. Comparing this story with the other stories I have read recently, I just fails to meet their high standards.

A_Rose_for_EmilyThe story itself is just a bit odd. The timeline throughout the story is just all over the place, going back and forth and back again. I think the story could have been interesting, but my thoughts were all over the place while reading it and I just could not get the essence of what it is about. I know the main theme was to do with tradition versus change, and I understand Faulkner is using Emily as a metaphor for this, but it just did not captivate me. To be brutally honest, the story kind of creeped me out. A woman laying next to her murdered lover for years while he desiccated? Yeah, not the kind of love story I’d usually read.

Saying all the above, one thing I can give praise about was the single grey hair that was left on the bed at the end of the story. It was like a symbol of a long lost love, and I liked this idea. I will still go on to read another Faulkner story, so this won’t be the last of him you hear from me. Hopefully my next analysis won’t be so critical!

Until next time!

 

 

Wuthering Heights

Posted on by shazbazzblog

How lucky am I, that I get to explore and study fine book such as “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronté as part of my course.

For those of you who don’t know, Wuthering Heights is an intense love story revolving around the lives of Heathcliff and Catherine. Usually, you can connect with the main characters of a love story and you hope that their love can stand whatever obstacle is thrown against them. Wuthering Heights however, isn’t your typical love story. During my reading of the book I found myself at times being disgusted by the two main characters, and at times also detesting them. Granted, it was Heathcliff’s tough upbringing that turned him into a cruel and hardened man, but I don’t believe that can justify his nasty actions throughout the story.

When you take a closer look, the main theme of this story isn’t love, but it is one of revenge. Heathcliff educates and betters himself and returns home to wreak havoc on the two families he believes destroyed his life, and separated him from Catherine.

I might not particularly like the main protagonist, but I cannot say he was without passion. His love for Catherine, and hers for him was a crazy, whirlwind, passion-fueled romance. They were both as arrogant as they were stubborn. If you want to read a story about two families lives, how they weave with one another, I suggest you to read this.

It almost gets confusing towards the end of the story when it passes down a generation and we see the main characters children. The intricate lives they leave are just as crazy as their parents.

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My favourite aspect of this book is the heightened sense of emotions. Everything seems to be exaggerated and through Bronte’s words I could see and feel Heathcliff’s passionate love, elevated fury and scornful jealousy. Each emotion was perfectly described that while reading it, you almost felt the same emotion as the character.

I love books that can instill in me a feeling that the characters is also having. Is Wuthering Heights a classic? Why of course it is! Being transported into the world of the story, living and breathing it is what makes a story a classic. Escaping your world into a completely fictional universe is, in my opinion, the primarily main function of a great book.

 

 

Anyone like to disagree with me and say they like Heathcliff? I love hearing peoples opposing opinions.

 

Until next time!

“Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!”

Posted on by shazbazzblog

Who among us can say that they have not heard of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s astounding novel The Great Gatsby? Even those of you who have not read this extraordinary piece of fiction must have at least seen Baz Luhrmanns film adaptation in 2013, featuring the handsome Leonadro Dicaprio.

When I try to take a look back on my life to the point where I fell in love with literature, I believe Fitzgerald’s book was the starting point. At the young age of 9 I tried tackling this big book that was growing dusty on my mothers ever expanding book shelf. Failing to comprehend the majority of the book, my mother read it to me instead and explained what was going on. Instantly I was in love with the colourful and vibrant lives of Daisy and Gatsby, I wanted to be back in their era, where the jazz age was booming at the height of the roaring 20’s. A few years later, able to finally read the more difficult literature, I re-read The Great Gatsby, and I have done so many times. When the film adaptation came out in 2013 I was thrilled and the film did not let down my expectations.

So when I walked in to my American Literature class this year and discovered I would be studying this term, I was delighted. My first literature love would get to be explored in a whole new way.

Everyone has their own favourite aspect of this book I am sure, how could you not find at least one thing you love about it? MY own particular favourite part of this book is the in fact the writing. I have never seen any others writing to be more beautiful than Fitzgerald’s. He composes paragraphs in such a passionate and intelligent way. For instance, how exquisite and elegant in this paragraph taken from the novel?

“He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced–or seemed to face–the whole eternal world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”

Is that not just jaw-droppingly, hands down the most splendid and bewitching paragraph to ever gift your eyes? Fitzgerald’s writing makes me want to write. His writing turns into something much more than just words on paper, he gives life in every single word. Then of course, there is also the single greatest ending line to be given in any literature

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

Again, how beautiful? How timelessly simple?

What do you guys think? Is Gatsby one of your favourite novels? Would love to hear others opinions of Fitzgerald, and try challenge me with an author they think is better!

Until next time!

Hills like White Elephants

Posted on by shazbazzblog

“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.”

The above quote, from Fernando Pessoa, is pretty relevant in my life right now. I’m in week 7 of a crazy difficult semester in college and I am beginning to panic. I recently checked my college emails and it is full to the brim with emails about assignments, exams etc. So I did what I usually do, and engaged myself in some good literature to block the world out and ignore my problems.

Thankfully for me, I do literature in college so technically I was also doing coursework in reading said literature. The piece I decided to read was “Hills like White Elephants” by the great Ernest Hemingway. I have read this short story before my coming to college, so was pleasantly surprised when my American Literature class decided to study it.

For those of you who haven’t read this compelling story, close your laptop or turn off your phone and go read it. Honestly, I promise you won’t regret it.

What makes it such a compelling read for me is that the meaning is not given, you must find it for yourself. It took me more than one reading to figure out for myself what the subject of the story is about. Hemingway gives us very little information about the characters, and leaves us with no backstory. We are just given an image of a man and a girl at a Spanish train station with a brief look into their conversation.

I particularly like this style of writing because much of what you get from this story is your own perception. When I first read this story I looked to much in between the lines and for some reason believed this story to be about racism. After reading it another time with a more open-mind, I realised I was wrong and in fact it was about the couples abortion.

Reading this story seemed to be very relevant in our current society. There have been a lot of talks about abortion in the last few years.  The strange thing about this story however is that it was written in the early 1920’s. Abortion is a very taboo topic nowadays, but it was even more-so unheard of back then. I think Hemingway was very brave to tackle on such a heavy topic and that is why I love this piece of work so much.

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Have any of you had a different interpretation of this story? I’d love to hear some feedback.

Until next time!

Great Expectations

Posted on by shazbazzblog

So in a few weeks I am to give a presentation on Great Expectations for my module Victorian texts and contexts. I think this module is really  interesting as I like comparing concepts of these old texts to modern day stories and novels.

Great Expectations is a novel by the great Charles Dickens.It centers on the story of the young and poverty stricken Pip. When he is young, he meets Estella who he immediately falls in love with. He dreams of becoming a wealthy man to become worthy of her. This doesn’t happen as instead he becomes an apprentice blacksmith. One day many years later a lawyer appears with some strange news. A secret benefactor has given Pip a large sum of money.  With this money Pip decides to further his education and become a gentleman.

Now I won’t spoil the rest of this classic story for those who haven’t read it. I would definitely recommend everyone to go home right now and read this amazing story.

I will leave this article with a quote from the novel, one of my favourites. Do any of you have a favourite quote from this, or any classic? I’d love to hear some feedback.

“I loved her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

The classics

Posted on by shazbazzblog

Hello there!

So I am just after finishing week 4 of this semester, time is flying by! I am starting to feel a bit more settled in to Irish university life again after my time abroad.

So my topic I would like to discuss about for this post is that of my favourite aspect of my course; English literature. I am really enjoying the books we are currently studying for our modules. My favourites so far are The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations. They are all of course classics, so are bound to be well written and interesting reads. Reading these books have shown me the importance they hold in today’s world. The stories the novels tell have been re-told millions of times in many different ways to fit today’s society. Each book even has a modern film counterpart.

I am definitely an advocate for choosing books over films. I don’t think films can have as much detail or information as books have, and that is the best part. I look being able to open a book and be transported into a different world, as is what happened when I read each of the three books above.

Another book I would like to mention is To Kill a Mockingbird. My reason in mentioning this is because regrettably the author of this book and literary icon Harper Lee passed away this week. I believe this book to be a classic as it is an astoundingly beautiful story.

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I really love the fact that I get to study and analyze amazing classics as part of my college education. Next week I want to post about the differences and comparisons between between the above classics, once I have finished studying them all.

Until next time,

Adíos!

 

The Uni bubble

Posted on by shazbazzblog

Hi there, welcome to my blog! For those of you who don’t know, my name is Shannen, I’m 21 and in my third year in the University of Limerick. Before we begin I’d like to start off with a little quote:

“University’s like this little world, a bubble of time separate from everything before and everything after.”
― Mhairi McFarlane,

I like this quote as I really believe it to be accurate. When you’re in college, it’s like a separate entity completely to the real world. My sister finished college last year and she says once you leave it’s like you are officially entering the world of adulthood. I know I am 21 so technically I am an adult, but I’d call people my age in college beginner-adults. We’re still figuring out how to use the washing-machine and how to sort out bills, so we’re not quite ready to take complete responsibility for ourselves yet. Our student accommodation is like a little community – we are all more or less in the same boat, and around the same age with no one but ourselves to mind so it really is a great time in our life.

I don’t think I appreciated my university enough until I was abroad for this past year. As part of my Co Op work placement and Erasmus, I got to live in two different countries for two semesters. I am finally home and can safely say, although I had an amazing time, I am so happy to be back.

It’s crazy how much Universities can differ around the world. I went to Greece for my Erasmus and it was the polar opposite to the way things are run in Ireland. Lectures are very small and more discussion based, and lasted a whole three hours! After that, one-hour lectures here don’t seem too bad!

After being away for a year, getting back into proper college work is very hard. I am very fortunate however that I love what I am studying. College work seems to have tripled, and as I am English student I have about 895072 books to read. I am finding this my most challenging semester yet as I have gotten quite out of sync with university life. I know I spent a semester in Greece studying but it was different. Everything was much more relaxed in Greece, and I never really had much work to do at home outside of the lectures. Some days I wish I could be back in the sunny city of Thessaloniki relaxing.

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Coming back to a million assignments being thrown at me is difficult, and I really am endeavoring to stay on top of everything. I am not complaining totally over this however, I like a challenge. Here’s hoping I won’t get too stressed out!

Until next time!