"Pride and Prejudice" ...Reader Response

Ok. First of all, ignore the one-sentence post before this. That would be an accident...
Within Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, Bingley and Jane's relationship proves that social pressures essentially inhibit people from fulfilling their true identities, and their true desires. Whether it manifests itself in the pressure to marry for security and convenience, or the pressure to attain affluence and culture, the social norm erases individual identity and the joy of independent choice. One example of this stems from Jane's relationship with Bingley. Her mother pushes her to marry him because of his wealth, but his sister, Caroline, urges him to marry a woman of higher status. This is a key example of how marriage becomes a matter of money-- and not just of financial security, but of maximum status. For this reason, Jane and Bingley almost do not end up together, a result of unhappiness for the two mutual admirers. In response to Bingley's distance from Jane, Mrs. Bennet constantly nags and questions her daughter about Bingley. In fact, the reader is told that "an hour seldom passed in which she did not talk of Bingley, express her impatience for his arrival, or even require Jane to confess that if he did not come back, she should think herself very ill used. It needed all Jane's steady mildness to bear these attacks with tolerable tranquillity" (96). Mrs. Bennet's motivation for this constant disturbance is, of course, her longing to see Jane in a good marriage, according to society's definition of a "good" marriage. This social pressure to marry advantageously consumes Mrs. Bennet to the point where she not only has her "nervous attacks," but she makes her daughters miserable as well! Basically, the root of Jane and Bingley's unhappiness stems from a.) The Bennet sisters' pressure to marry advantageously and b.) the pressure put on Bingley by his sister to marry advantageously, an urging which keeps him from proposing to Jane for quite some time. As far as people's true identities, Mr. Darcy's high social status seems to keep others from understanding his true character. When he does not introduce himself in the ballroom or dance with any partner-less women (essentially a breach of decorum), his intimidating wealth and status make him appear prideful and rude, when in reality he is shy and awkward (...and, yes, a little bit prideful as well); but the consensus of the crowd in the ballroom is hasty and sweeping-- "His character was decided. He was the proudest, most disagreeable man in the world, and every body hoped that he would never come there again" (7). Thus, it can be argued that the social system of classes, and the canyons between each level of status, cause a roadblock in people's attempt to be themselves-- to understand and be understood.
The ideal reader should acknowledge how characters of each social class, both male and female, are bound by social norms, and notice the effects of the social mold on their interactions with others, sense of self, and personal happiness. To the ideal reader, Elizabeth's decision to walk in the mud for three miles in order to arrive at Netherfield (when a carriage was more than available) becomes not just a personal preference of walking, but a defiance of social decorum to prove a point to the gentry and aristocracy she would find on the other side of her journey. To the ideal reader, Caroline Bingley, though more sofisticated and cultured, is just as silly as Mrs. Bennet, who often shows little to no class, because they both are consumed by the pressure to marry advantageously. Caroline flirts with Mr. Darcy to the point of annoyance, and Mrs. Bennet keeps up-to-date on gossip that may favor her daughters' potential to take advantage of single men in the area. The reader must see their silliness as a way in which society has put people under a spell of pettiness, consuming and taking away their personal identities. A prime example of someone whose social standing took away her identity is Lady Catherine De Bourg, who is a stock character of the aristocracy-- a wealthy land owner, who takes pride in her family's social standing, yet has no other depth to her character. Because Austen develops each character thoroughly, the ideal reader must look to the individual characters as representations of different social classes in order to see the effect that social standing had on the individual within the historical/social setting of the novel.
I think this theme is timelessly true. Society will always tell people they need to be something they are not, something they can never be. Whether it's the rap videos that tell little boys that true masculinity lies in unrealistically sculpted muscles and meaningless objectification of women, or the women's magazine that creates unrealistic perceptions of beauty and hypnotizes women into propelling that cycle of objectification in hopes of being loved, the lies surround us. Society is lying to us about what love is, what normal is, what we are... We're lying to ourselves. Humans put together makes a lie factory. We can't help it. But the trick is to crack a window, air it out, and learn to find, produce, and share truth.

"Pride and Prejudice" ...Reader Response

Within Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, Bingley and Jane's relationship proves that social pressures essentially inhibit people from fulfilling their true identities, and their true desires.

Symbolism

Time and time again, I've watched as women, whether my dear friends, or mere acquaintances, enter into a new relationship with giddy, overflowing hearts that ooze passion at the seams.
And time and time again, I've watched these relationships end in earth-shattering heartbreak for these women. So I wrote a song about why.
It uses a lot of symbolism to convey that a young, innocent girl placing all of her trust in a teenage boy, is like her standing at a precipice, taking off her parachute (the only hope of surviving the great fall), setting it in that boy's hands, and jumping off the cliff. It's suicide. Now this isn't to say that all relationships are detrimental, that I don't believe in love, that many men are not Godly and honorable... but it is to say that a lot of girls just want to be loved by a boy, so they give everything they have, only to be ignorantly used and thrown away by a sex-crazed teenager who either doesn't understand or care about the girl's feelings, or know any better.
It happens everyday...

She never expected him to be more than that innocent, wide-eyed boy.
He never thought he could make anyone feel such profound joy.
But when her emotions take the wheel, he reaches for his map.
And he takes advantage of her love, pushes the pedal, it's way too fast.

What could I say when she's caught up in the Whirlwind?
And no words of wisdom would stop her from jumping off that cliff...?
I thought that she would be smarter than to leave her parachute in his hands at the top of her world.
The top of the world.

So she takes a leap of faith headfirst, flying into the air.
And he can't believe his eyes, dumbfounded he just stares.
So when she lands, limbs mangled and heart crushed, she'll look up at him.
And a few tears will come to her eyes when she finds there's no one there...
at the top of her world.

When he says, "just place your trust in me,"
Don't put your life in those hands.
Don't make him something he's not supposed to be,
Don't make him the center of all your plans.

"Death of a Salesman" Thought Piece

When looking at the various "American dreams" in Death of a Salesman as reflections of different eras in American history, the reader can not only understand each character better, but also the philosophy they each hold fast to, and why none are entirely correct.
First, Biff's American dream manifests itself when he moves westward and seems to roam the wide open country-- a lifestyle very different from the new suburban/businessman lifestyle he came from. The contrast in these two "American dreams" opens up a new door of interpretation to his character. Historically, in the days of Manifest Destiny, when the west was open for settlement and many a pioneer set out for a new life, this American dream of moving westward was often a way to abandon a life of failure and restart somewhere entirely new. Many a convict would flee their crimes and seek redemption in the west. So it is interesting that after failing math class and thus not managin to graduate high school, that Biff pursues this American dream. According to the dream of his father, he has failed; so he flees. Also, after discovering his father's mistake (the affair), he flees. As a result, Biff comes to represent this "pioneer, fresh start" kind of American dream, since he flees his old life after a.) failing, and b.) discovering another dimention to his family's dysfunctional tendencies.
Willy, on the other hand, represents the post-WWII suburban dream. Due to the GI Bill after World War II, office jobs, rather than factory jobs or farming, grew increasingly more popular. Soon, most people found themselves employed in the worlds of business and service rather than industry; and this, along with the 1950s white flight to suburbia created the societal perception that success was a manicured lawn and a beautiful home, a working father with a large income, a housewife, two kids, and two Fords in the driveway. Pressured by this newfound societal expectation, Willy becomes consumed with living up to this standard, which, the play's end result comments, eventually kills him. He even says, "y'know? After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive." With a societal emphasis placed on business and service, suddenly, for the survival of the business, the worker becomes about what he (or she) is worth; and when Willy Loman is no longer worth his salary to his employer (to which he has dedicated all the "appointments" and "years"), how is he to know he is still worth something as a human being? When his American dream, which he has poured all of himself into, fails, what else does he have?
The contrast between Biff's free-spirited, failure-abandoning dream and Willy's socially-bound, success-driven dream explains some of the dysfunction within the Loman family, as everyone seems to have different goals in life. Viewing their ultimate purposes differently, they look at their lives through different lenses, and argue about what they see. But by analyzing the American dreams of various characters, the reader can identify their motives, and better understand them as people.