Plot Summary of Jerome K Jerome's "Three Men in a Boat"

The novel “Three Men in a Boat”, is the story of three men, accompanied by a dog, as they travel in a boat down the River Thames. It was written by Jerome Klapka Jerome and was first published in 1889.

The story begins as the three main characters George, William Samuel Harris and J, the narrator are sitting a room discussing what should be done to alleviate themselves of their supposed illnesses. Accompanying them is Montmorency, the narrator’s dog. George and Harris feel they are ill because they are bored. The narrator however is assured that his liver is failing him because he recently read of the symptoms of liver disease. They felt over-worked and began discussing how they should travel on a boat for a week to calm their nerves.

Before their departure, they must first agree on the details. It is decided that on clear nights they will camp outside in tents but in rainy weather they will find lodging. With that part of the plan agreed upon difficulties now arise as they begin to list the items that they will need to bring along. After some arguing they instead begin to list the things that they won’t need.

Next they turn their attention to listing food and cooking materials. Above all else they declare that paraffin oil must not be taken as they had done so in the past. By the end of that trip they couldn’t rid themselves of its smell. The group held similar thoughts against bringing any cheese along. J narrates a story where he once traveled with some cheese and its smell bothered other travelers and even sent a horse running in fear.

The next day they gathered everything on their lists and begin to pack. To be sure that he had taken his tooth brush, J searches the bags only to find it after unpacking everything. He now has to repack all of the supplies a second time. After breaking many of the supplies they were finally done.

On the morning of their departure they oversleep. Over breakfast they reviewed the weather report but declare it must be wrong because the report seemed to recall yesterday’s weather. “It is bad enough when it comes without our having the misery of knowing about it before hand.”

Stacking all of the bags outside they wait for a cab to bring them to the train station. A large crowd forms to cheer their departure as it is believed it is a wedding or funeral. At the train station no one seems to know which train runs from Waterloo to Kingston. They pay an engine driver to make sure he goes to Kingston as no one will notice if it is the wrong stop for that particular train. The engine driver agrees and they are eventually able to board their boat.

Without George who will be picked up later in the day from work, J, Harris and Montmorency set sail. J becomes engaged at watching the English country side and day dreams about events that have happened there in the past. He forgets that he is steering the boat and they crash into the river bank. The group again begins moving up the river once again. As they arrive at Hampton Court J admires its walls. He narrates an episode of Harris getting lost in the palace’s maze and they plan to have George enter it when they return.

Dress was an important part of boating. J warns that the clothes should complement the wearer but still be suitable for a boat ride. Harris wants to stop to visit a cemetery as he enjoys viewing interesting tombstones. J dislikes this pastime and argues that they needed to pick up George from his job at the bank and so they continue on. Angrily looking for a drink, Harris causes them to crash once again.

At Weybridge, they pick up George who is carrying a new banjo. He is immediately put to work on the towline where we are introduced to the difficulties that exist when towing a line. If the person doing the towing doesn’t pay mind, they may lose the boat all together. J provides us with several examples of misadventures that began because of an unmindful tower. As the day draws to a close, the group decides to stop and sleep in the boat.

The following day they continue on their trip up the river. J and George recall the first time that they all took this trip. They searched one particular town looking for a place to sleep but couldn’t find one. Finally finding a room in a small cottage they were able to share a child’s bed. That experience made them less picky in choosing their lodgings.

After a second day, exhaustion had stolen their desire to rest among a picturesque setting so they simply fastened the boat to a tree. Before supper they undertook to cover the boat with a canvas. This results in George and Harris becoming entangled beneath it in a struggle for freedom. They finally finish setting up the boat and begin their supper. All four are famished and all eat well. J remarks how food can alter one’s overall feeling. They all feel full and happy. They are so happy with their own company that they contemplate going off to live together on an island alone.

“People who have tried it, tell me that a clear conscience makes you very happy and contented; but a full stomach does the business quite as well, and is cheaper, and more easily obtained. One feels so forgiving and generous after a substantial and well-digested meal- so noble minded, so kindly-hearted.”

The group all wake very early. They had determined to take a morning swim the evening before but the cold morning changes everyone’s mind. J however decides to crawl out on a tree branch and splash some of the water on himself but the branch brakes and he falls into the Thames. No one else is willing to join him.

For breakfast Harris attempts to make his famous scrambled eggs but ends up spilling some and burning the rest. J again thinks about the surroundings and the historic events that had once happened on the scenic river. He envisions the signing of England’s Magna Carta and how the hills, banks and even the river must have looked similar to how they looked to him then. When they reach Marlow, they leave the boat near a bridge and get a room for the night. It is a small town surrounded by lovely country. The following morning they again wake very early. Montmorency meets a cat and causes a ruckus of himself. This fearless Tom Cat meets his challenge undisturbed and sent Montmorency retreating with his tail tucked between his legs. 

With his return, the group was able to shop at the market place for food to replenish the boat. At each shop they request that the delivery boy follow them back to the boat with their packages in hand. Their trip back entails an entire procession of delivery boys carrying packages through the town. They continued on their trip up the river, stopping only for lunch. Following their meal, a good wind carries them further still, up past Wargrave to Sonning. They end the day by making an Irish stew.

When they rise the next day it was decided that they should row instead of towing. They couldn’t however decide which two men should row while the third steered. All claimed to have done the most work during their brief trip up the Thames. Luckily later in the day they get pulled up the river by a steam boat until they reach Reading. In the water they witness a black shape floating toward them and find the body of a dead woman. It is found out that she had left her baby behind and committed suicide in the river.

They next stopped at Streatley where they stay for two days. While there they paid to have their clothes washed. Originally trying to wash them in the river they found that they became dirtier from the water. During the last leg of their trip was the most difficult. The final mile before reaching Oxford the current makes navigating nearly impossible. They spend two more days here where Montmorency spends his time fighting other dogs.

Throughout this trip, the narrator J provides stories for the reader about historic events and individuals that have occupied these same waters and surrounding lands. The group continuously runs into episodes that create drama along the whole of their trip. Originally meant to be a travel guide for boating up the River Thames, this novel has lasted as a comedy about the hilarious misadventures of this troublesome group of three men plus one dog in a boat.

Plot Summary of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death"

Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” was first published in 1842. It is the tall of an eccentric Prince who tries to secure his and other upper class citizens’ safety of a plague devastating his country’s populace.

The short story begins by detailing, in the most Edgar Allan Poe style, the severity of the disease they call, “The Red Death”. The symptoms are a sign to others to stay way as the disease will very shortly kill the carrier, painfully. “The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.”

This disease however seemed an affliction to the poor. As many suffer, the Prince Prospero invites society’s upper class to a great castle where they can be secured by gates of iron. No one would be able to enter or leave. Here they intended to keep from becoming sick themselves. The Prince made sure that they had plenty of food, wine and even entertainment available, so that they could wait out the passing of the disease beyond their gates. For months “The Red Death” continued to infect and kill many outside of the castle.

The Prince decides to hold a masked ball. He had very unique tastes, as the castle was build and decorated to his exact design. Even the masks worn by the guests were of his decision. The ball was held within seven connected apartments. Each apartment was similarly decorated. Each was a specific unique color from floor to ceiling, including all decorations. They were lighted by large torches which were positioned outside of stained glass windows. The color of each room’s window matched the unique color of that specific room. There was one exception to this rule; in the seventh room the walls and décor were black velvet but the stained glass was red. “There flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and blackness of the sable drapery appalls.” The effect caused many guests to occupy only the first six rooms and avoid the seventh.

Against the far wall of this seventh room there was a large black clock. Each hour as the minute hand reached the twelve, the clack’s chimes rang out. Their melody was so extremely odd that on the top of every hour the entire party came to a stop and waited for the clock to finish. The sound brought on nervousness throughout the guests.

At the stroke of midnight, the chimes sounded their longest tone and with it the ball again paused. During this long pause, guest became aware of a presence of one they hadn’t noticed earlier. The costume and mask of this one guest astonished everyone into fear and terror. It resembled one who was forsaken by the Red Death. “His vesture was dabbled in blood- and his broad brow, with all the features of the face was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.”

When the Prince first lays eyes upon this, he becomes overcome with anger. He demands that the mask be removed and he who wears it to be punished. The mask of the Red Death passed by him and continues on, moving through each room. While all others were struck with fear, the Prince himself runs after this figure with a dagger in hand. As he nears the figure stops and turns to face the Prince. With a scream, the Prince drops to the floor, dead. The other guests run to seize the retreating figure and catch him under the shadow of the black clock. However they find no one hidden under the costume or mask of death. They become aware that the Red Death is among them and it kills them one by one until they have all perished.

Summary of H.G. Wells "The Time Machine"

“The Time Machine” was written by H.G. Wells and was first published in 1895. It is one of the earliest stories to involve time travel and has been the influence to many works within this genre. This story begins with “The Time Traveler” speaking of the geography of the fourth dimension to a group of quests, which includes the narrator. He explains to this assembled group that time is the fourth dimension and should be treated much the same as the first three which are length, breadth and thickness. In fact he says, “Since we can move freely in the first three dimensions then free movement in time should also be possible”.

This discussion turns from theory to reality when The Time Traveler brings form his laboratory a clock-sized device for all to see. This device was framed in brass and encased ivory and a clear crystalline substance. Taking one of his guests, a psychologist by the hand, The Time Traveler guides his finger to move a lever on the tiny time machine. “There was a breath of wind, and the lamp flame jumped. One of the candles on the mantel was blown out, and the little machine suddenly swung round, became indistinct, was seen as a ghost for a second perhaps, as an eddy of faintly glittering brass and ivory; and it was gone – vanished!” Following this demonstration and adding to their astonishment, The Time Traveler presented them with a full size time machine that was nearly complete.

A week later several men rejoin The Time Traveler for dinner. The Time Traveler arrives at this gathering late, after the others had begun their meal. When he arrives his clothes are torn and covered in dirt. He is bruised and walks with obvious discomfort. He is looked upon by the others with curiosity, but refuses to answer any questions until he has been given time to finish a proper meal and have a few glasses of wine. After eating his fill, he pulls forth a cigar and asks his guests to move to the smoking room where he will describe in full his adventures of time travel.

With his audience now gathered in the smoking-room, The Time Traveler tells his story. Beginning with describing his having one hand upon the forward level and one hand on the stop lever of his machine, he advanced into the future. At first he sees figures move throughout his laboratory that are oblivious to his presence. Steadily the machine gains speed in time. Days and nights go by quicker and quicker until they reach a point where the sun and moon are constant paths of light, stretched across the sky. He sees the landscape altered around himself. Buildings rise and fall, even his laboratory disappears from the landscape. The Time Traveler suddenly has an urge to stop but worries that he and the machine will collide at an atomic level with whatever physical item occupies the same space in this future time. He is cautious of their molecules trying to occupy the same space at the same time which could cause a possible explosion.

The Time Traveler pulled the second lever to stop the machine. He stopped in the year 802,701 where he stays for the next eight days. His travel through time stopped with a crash. The machine had overturned. As he surveyed his surroundings he noticed several men running toward him.  He describes one of them as being a slight creature- perhaps four feet high- clad in a purple tunic, girdled at the waist with a leather belt. Sandals or buskins- I could not clearly distinguish which- were on his feet; his legs were bare to the knees, and his head was bare.”

These fragile people that gathered around him were cheerful and childlike. Their language was high pitched and songlike. They danced around and showered him with flowers. They showed ‘The Time Traveler’ to a huge building where they lived. He witnessed a land filled with exotic fruits and flowers of massive proportions in a time where no weed or fungus ever again grew. Most notable was the worn condition of this great hall where hundreds had gathered to feast on fruits. These future peoples were all vegetarians as most types of large animals had been extinct and meat eaters could not exist.

The Time Traveler attempts to learn the language but finds that these futuristic people have little patients to teach him. In the town he notices the lack of individualized homes and theorizes that it was the lack of a struggle of survival that had altered these people. They lacked an existence of any need to work, create or learn. “I thought of the physical slightness of the people, their lack of intelligence, and those big abundant ruins, and it strengthened my belief in a perfect conquest of Nature.” Populations were not diminished by war, disease or hunger. Fruit was plentiful and even weeds and fungus no longer grew to inhibit crop growth.

After having explored the surrounding area, The Time Traveler returns to find his machine is missing. He wears himself out searching for it and demands information from these childlike people. Near the place where it first landed he examines a large sphinx made of white stone atop a large bronze base. He realizes that his machine could have been hidden in this hollow base but can’t find a way in. Upon further exploration he sees tall pillars that are giving off a warm exhaust, but there use he can’t understand. In other areas he finds covered wells that seem to not hold any water, but sound of engines.

During these days of exploration he saves the life of a drowning girl named Weena. Weena follows him everywhere even sleeping against his arm at night. It is through her that The Time Traveler begins to notice other peculiar behavior of these people. He notices that none of them are old and they seem to have a childish fear of the dark. He is still unable to understand most of their language and they haven’t been helpful in giving any clues toward finding his missing time machine.

Wondering outside one dawn he sees other creatures running among the shadows of a forest. During an exploration of the ruins of an unused building he sees one of these creatures hidden in the dark shadows. The white skinned creature escapes by climbing down one of the wells. This creates a new theory in his mind. He now believes the human species has divided into two types of beings. Those that existed above ground, who were known as Eloi. They were the descendants of wealthy land owners. Those that created a society underground were known as Morlocks. These, The Time Traveler believed were the poor of past human society. Centuries of living work-free lives above ground has caused Eloi to shrink in height, strength and intelligence. Living in the dark underground has had an opposite effect on the Morlocks. Their eyes are large, reflective and extremely sensitive to light. Their skin lacks any color and is a pure white.

The Time Traveler ventures down one of the wells. At the bottom of the 200 foot decent he enters a large cavern. In the center is a table of food surrounded by the strong smell of blood. All around, hiding in the shadows, the creatures wait for his torch to run out. In the dark they chase him, trying to keep him in their underground world. Using the light from his last remaining matches, The Time Traveler escapes back into the sunlight, above ground.

The Time Traveler realizes that his theory is still a little flawed. The meat that he saw, which they were eating underground must have been the body of an Eloi, as there weren’t any other large animals that could have supplied them with such meat. Fearing the darkness during the coming new moon he takes Weena to search for weapons and a secure location. They walk many miles to a structure that he describes as a Palace of Green Porcelain. This structure turns out to be the ruins of a museum. He finds an iron mace, matches and a jar of camphor.

The Time Traveler’s plan is now to use his iron mace to break into the white sphinx’s base and get into his time machine and travel back home. In his rush to return to the statue he travels through a darkened forest at night. To keep the Morlocks back he starts multiple fires. The Morlocks are able to temporarily capture Weena while fighting The Time Traveler. He is saved when the first fire he began races through the forest of dry leaves and branches. Its light completely blinds all of the Morlocks, making them defenseless. Weena is lost to the fires of the forest during their escape.

The final stage to The Time Traveler’s plan is to break into the Bronze base of the Sphinx. However the doors have been left open with the time machine sitting in plain sight inside. As he enters, the doors drop shut and he is once again attacked in the dark by the Morlocks. This time however he is able to reattach the levers he once removed and is transported out of that time period.

In his rush to escape the Morlocks, The Time Traveler pushes ahead into the very distant future. Repeatedly he stops then again advances on, further into time. With each stop the sun fills more of the sky and discontinues setting. It simply remains in the Southeastern sky. The seas fall quiet. Life dissolves and eventually turns from large crab-like monsters to a slimy plant life. In time even these pass away.

At the end The Time Traveler returns to his own time period. Those that he shares his experiences with have trouble believing in any of his story, even if they were entertained. The narrator still remains with a feeling that The Time Traveler’s story may be real. He revisits him only to witness the disappearance of the machine and man. This story is narrated three years later were these events are retold. The Time Traveler has yet to reappear.

Summary of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven"

“The Raven”, one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poems, was first published in 1845. Like many of his works, this poem casts a shadow of loneliness and loss within a dark story. The image of the raven that comes to the main character’s chambers at night changes throughout this poem from one of a saint to that of a devilish spirit who will forever haunt him with thoughts of lost. This bird brings him a reminder of a lost love who he will never be with again, nevermore.

Poe opens his poem with a man sitting alone in his house in the dark on a cold December night. It is near midnight and the fire has begun to die out. This man is depressed and heartbroken, wishing for the night to be over and morning to reappear. His head drops down and nods as sleep slowly overcomes him. He wakes to a tapping which he mistakes to be a late night visitor knocking at his door. “Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door, Only this and nothing more.”

A moment later the curtains rustled, giving him a fright. He stands and goes to answer the door while reassuring himself by repeating that it was only a visitor knocking at the door. As he opens the door he begins apologizing for the wait as he was napping and didn’t hear the knocking at first because it was so soft. But no one was there, only the darkness of night. Confused, he stands in the doorway and listens, but he only finds silence. His mind thinks back to his lost love and he dreams that maybe she has come back to him after death. In a whisper he speaks her name, Lenore. His whisper echoed once and again all is silent.

He goes back inside and closes the door. Again he hears tapping. This time it is louder and coming from the window. Frightened once again he goes to check the window, reassuring himself that it was only the wind knocking. He throws open the window shutters and in flies a raven with its wings flapping. The raven immediately flies above the chamber door and sits upon a statue of a Greek god named Pallas. “In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore.”

Looking at the proud behavior and formal color of its black feathers, he smiles to himself. Humored he asks the raven for its name. The raven replies, “Nevermore.” Although the raven’s remark holds little meaning, he marvels at the unique situation to have had this bird fly into his chambers and sit upon the statue above his door and be able to speak such a clear understandable word.

The raven remains motionless upon the statue above the door. The man remarks that much like his hopes the bird would not remain, tomorrow he would fly away. The raven again answers, “Nevermore”. Shocked at the bird’s response, he begins to believe that the raven was once owned by someone who had taught him that one single word. Repeated so often he has lost his ability to sing but can now only say, nevermore. Still, even this thought cheers him up.

Fascinated, he pulls up a violet velvet covered chair and sits in front of the raven. Watching it, he begins to ponder what it could mean when it uttered nevermore. While he sits, reclined and engaged in guessing its true meaning, the raven stares down upon him. Suddenly he feels a presence in the room. There seemed to be a hint of perfume in air. He screamed out at the raven, asking whether God has sent it to help him forget the late Lenore. But the raven only responded, “Nevermore”.

With that response he sees an evil mischief in the raven’s presence. He now screams out "Prophet! Thing of evil! Prophet still, if bird or devil! He begins to believe that the raven is evil and was sent to haunt him. The raven responds, “Nevermore”. Again he yells at the raven, asking if he is a prophet and if so tell him whether in death he will once again be reunited with his lost love, Lenore. The raven simply responds, “Nevermore”.

Upon this response from the raven, the man is fed up with the bird and demands that he fly back into the night. “Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend! Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!” He wants not even a single feather left behind to remind him of the lie that he has told of the reunion may never occur. The raven simply replies, “Nevermore”.

It sits motionless upon the Greek statue above the door, ignoring the request to leave. Above the raven a light casts its shadow down upon the floor. The raven, representing the memory of Lenore, remains. The man is hidden in its shadow, darkening his soul, Forevermore.

Analysis of the Circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno

Analysis of the Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno

 
In Dante’s Inferno, written in the 14th century, Dante Alighieri details his vision of hell as he takes a guided tour through its nine circles. His guide is the famous Greek poet, Virgil. Dante envisions hell to be in the shape of a funnel, created from descending rings. The souls of those who have sinned in life are gathered in specific rings to be punished. The larger, outer rings hold those whose sins were thought to be less severe. As Dante is led deeper into the center of hell, the sinner’s deeds are worse, as are the punishments.

Dante’s Inferno was written as an epic poem and was divided into cantos. From his introduction where he explains that he one day woke in a dark forest at the edge of hell, each canto brings him closer and closer to the center of hell. Along the way Dante’s guide and some of the sinners themselves explain what they have done to have been sentenced to hell.

Before entering into the first circle of hell, Dante sees a large group of suffering souls. These souls are rejected by heaven but also ignored by hell because they never accepted God. They spend eternity chasing a banner and continuously being stung by gadflies and hornets.

First Circle of Hell (Canto IV)

The first river of hell, Acheron must be crossed to enter the first circle of hell. To cross this body of water, Dante and Virgil must take a boat ride with the demon Charon. In this outer most ring, the first circle of hell holds those in Limbo. Souls that are limbo are those that were born before the coming of Jesus Christ or were never baptized. Their punishment is merely the constant ache of being without God’s love. “Lost are we and are only so far punished. That without hope we live on in desire.”

Second Circle of Hell (Canto V)

Before the second circle of hell sinners line up to be judged by the giant beast Minos. Minos wraps his long tail around the sinner as many times as the circle he sends them down to for punishment.  “There standeth Minos Horrible, and snarles; Examines the transgressions at the entrance; Judges, and sends according as he girds him.”

Beyond Minos the souls of the second circle of hell are those that are guilty of Lustfulness.  These sinners are tossed forever through the sky by hurricane like winds. They will forever be tormented by these winds. “The infernal hurricane that never rests. Hurls the spirits onward in its rapine.

Third Circle of Hell (Canto VI)

Those that were Gluttonous in life are punished in the third circle of hell. These sinners lay in mud. From the sky, a constant rain, hail and snow falls on them. They continually turn over in an attempt to keep at least a small portion of themselves out of the filth. “Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; One side they make a shelter for the other; Oft turns themselves the wretched reprobates.”

Fourth Circle of Hell (Canto VII)

In the fourth circle of hell, Dante finds two types of sinners, those that were Avaricious or hoarders and those that were Prodigal or squanderers. These groups are forced to move heavy weights in a circle against each other. “For all the gold that is beneath the moon, Or ever has been, of these weary souls, Could never make a single one repose.”

Fifth Circle of Hell (Canto VII)

Dante and his guide Virgil arrive at the second of Hell’s rivers, the River Styx. The river is the fifth circle of hell as it also contains the souls of two types of sinners. Those that are guilty of Wrathfulness and Sluggishness in live. Those punished for wrath lay in the shallows and on the river bank with angry faces and tear at each other’s flesh.  “They smote each other not alone with hands, But with the head and with the breast and feet, Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.”

The second group of sinners, those of sluggishness, are unseen as they are hidden below the surface of the swamp. They must repeatedly receipt a hymn as they gurgle the filth of the swamp in their throats. “This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, For with unbroken words they cannot say it.”

Sixth Circle of Hell (Cantos IX – XI)

A second boatman, this one named Phlegyas ferries Dante and his guide across the River Styx. On this side of the river they reach a walled city called Dis. With help from heaven they are allowed passage into the city. Beyond the city’s walls they find open tombs. This is the sixth circle of hell.

The souls that are in the sixth circle are heretics. They are eternally burning in open tombs. Dante passes through this circle after first resting to become accustomed to the stench of the burning tombs. “For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, By which they so intensely heated were, That iron more so asks not any art. All of their coverings uplifted were, And from them issued forth such dire laments, Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented.”

Seventh Circle of Hell (Cantos XII – XVII)

The seventh circle of hell is for sinners of violence. Before entering this circle Dante and Virgil have a run in with the Minotaur. Minotaur is a man-bull beast who is the guardian of the violent. The circle itself is divided into three rings. The first ring of the seventh circle is for those that have committed violence against others, such as murder. The second ring is for those having committed violence against themselves, such as a suicide. The final ring of the seventh circle of hell is for those who committed violence against God, such as blasphemy.

Ring 1: (Canto XII) After passing the Minotaur they come to a third river. Named Phlegethon, this is a boiling river of blood. The depth of the river varies at different points. The boiling river is the first ring of the seventh circle and those souls who have committed violence against their neighbor are in the water. Some are only submerged up to their ankles because of the nature of their sin, while others are completely unseen below the surface. “But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near, The river of Blood, within which boiling is Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.”

Ring 2: (Canto XIII – XIV) Dante receives assistance crossing the River of Phlegethon by a Centaur, halfman-halfhorse creature, who guides him to its lowest point. At this point, Dante and Virgil enter a forest of strange trees. The trees are oddly shaped and have black leaves and poisonous briers. Virgil tells Dante to break a branch off of a tree. When he does, it bleeds and the tree yells in pain.

The souls trapped in this second ring of the seventh circle of hell grow out of seeds into large trees. There punishment is for the sin of being violent upon themselves, for committing suicide. For this crime against their own bodies, they are denied their human forms and must take on that of a fragile tree, forever tormented by winged creatures called Harpies.

“When the exasperated soul abandons, The body whence it rent itself away, Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. I falls into the forest, and not part, Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, There like a grain of spelt it germinates. I springs a sapling, and a forest tree; The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet.”

Ring 3: (Cantos XIV – XVI) At the inner edge of the forest Dante comes to desert land where no plants live. For the sinner that have done violence toward God or committed blasphemy, they are punished in this third ring of the seventh circle of hell. The sand is burning and from the sky, flames constantly fall, setting the ground alight. The souls here are forced into specific position based on their sin. They keep patting at the burning ground to put out fires wherever they take hold. “O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind.”

Dante and Virgil follow a red stream of the River Phlegethon to the edge of the seventh circle of hell. This circle ends in a huge waterfall. Before departing the seventh circle of hell, Virgil explains the origins of the four rivers of hell, Acheron, Styx, Phlegethon and Cocytus. He tells him that there exists a huge statue made of various metals and clay. This statue contains cracks all around it where its tears seep to the earth. These tears are what form all of the rivers in hell.

To travel to the bottom of the waterfall, Virgil convinces a winged monster who emerged from the water. The two ride on the creature’s back as it glides down to the eighth circle of hell. The creature, Geryon, is the personification of fraud. He has the head of man, a snake’s body and a scorpion’s tail, used to infect the world. Dante rides in front so Virgil can protect him from the creatures poison tipped tail.

Eighth Circle of Hell (Cantos XVIII – XXXI)

As Dante glides down from the seventh circle of hell on the back of Geryon, he describes the eight circle of hell from his bird’s eye view. The eighth circle is called Malebolge. It is made up of ten individual valleys, all surrounded by a wall of stone and each connected by bridges. Within each of these valleys, which Dante calls Bolgias, sinners are punished depending on their sins.

Bolgia 1: (Canto XVIII) In the first bolgia of the eighth circle of hell, souls are punished for being panderers. They are naked, marching in a line while being whipped by horned demons. On the other side of a dividing stone, souls are like wise beaten as they walk in the opposite direction. These sinners are seducers. The panderers and seducers share this first bolgia of the eighth circle of hell. “This side and that, along the livid stone, Behold I horned demons with great scourges, Who cruelly were beating them behind.”

Bolgia 2: (Canto XVIII) In the second bolgia Dante hears snorting and moaning. He looks down into this bolgia and sees flatterers, smothered in human waste. They are scratching with filth covered nails and hitting themselves. “Thence we heard people, who are making moan, In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, And with their palms beating upon themselves.”

Bolgia 3: (Canto XIX) In the third Bolgia of the eighth circle, Dante finds souls buried upside down, with only their legs and feet protruding out of the ground. They are in holes that were similar in size and shape to that of baptismal bowls. Their legs are on fire. This punishment is for the simonists or those who stole from or took bribes from their parishioners and crooked religious leaders. These sinners are stacked upside down vertically on top of each other, as spikes in the ground. The newer souls push the older deeper beneath the surface. “For silver and for gold do prostitute, Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, Because in this third Bolgia ye abide.”

Bolgia 4: (Canto XX) Astrologers, fortune-tellers, magicians and illusionist are punished in the fourth Bolgia. They all have their heads twisted around, forever taking away their ability to see in front of them. They cry as they march slowly backwards. “

Bolgia 5: (Canto XXI - XXII) The fifth Bolgia is extremely dark. The sinners held here are barrators, or crooked politicians. They are tormented by black, winged demons. These demons catch and throw them into a boiling pitch. As sinners break the surface the demons poke at them with hooks and rakes, driving them back into the boiling substance as if cooking them. “Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make, Immerse into the middle of the caldron, The meat with hooks, so that it may not float.”

Bolgia 6: (Canto  XXIII) Dante and Virgil depart from the demons of the fifth Bolgia by sliding down a bank into the sixth Bolgia. The demons are not allowed to leave their realm in the fifth, which allows the pair to get away.

They are confronted with the next group of sinners. These sinners are walking in a line very slowly as exhaustion has overcome them. They are all wearing a hooded cloak that is shiny and gilded on the outside. These orange cloaks were made of heavy lead which exhausted the wearer. These sinners are the hypocrites. Those that Dante speaks with are Friars.

The sixth Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell is also home to another sinner. Dante is shocked to see a man crucified to the ground with three spikes. This man convinced the Pharisees to crucify Jesus Christ to appease the Jewish mob. This man lay across the path so that all who pass must travel over him. Others who shared this council are also punished in the same way. “These orange cloaks, Are made of leas so heavy, that the weights, Cause in this way their balances to creak.”

Bolgia 7: (Canto  XXIV)The sinners sent to the seventh Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell are thieves. They are all naked and running around. Everywhere there are snakes that attack them. The snakes bound the hands of the sinners and bite at them. When a snake is able to strike a sinner, they burn into a pile of ash. But like the Phoenix, the ash forms back into the sinner’s original form for the snakes to once again attack. When they are reborn from the ashes, they are unaware of what had just happened and are again terrified of their surroundings. “Among this cruel and most dismal throng, People were running naked and affrighted. Without the hope of hold or heliotrope.”

Bolgia 8: (Canto XXVI – XXVII) From a bridge, Dante peers down into the eighth Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell and sees flames moving about. The sinners in this Bolgia are guilty of providing false counsel or fraudulent advice. For their punishment these spirits are burned deep within the flame. “Within the fires the spirits are; Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.”

Bolgia 9: (Canto XXVIII) Dante explains that no one has the ability to describe in words, the horror and torment which he found in the ninth Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell. If assembled, all of the dead from many wars combined, would not equal the blood and gore of the punishment met by the sinners in this
Bolgia. Each was cut in varying degrees from head to waist, head to neck or even the punishment of having to carry one’s own decapitated head like a lantern. All of these torments are found here. The sinners that are punished in such a way are disseminators of scandal and discord or caused a split between two groups. These spirits are cut by a Devil and must walk around pouring out their internals and dripping blood. Their wounds eventually heal, at which point the devil cuts them once again. “By the hair it held the head dissevered, Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, And that upon us gazed and said: O me!”

Bolgia 10: (Canto XXIX – XXX) Dante can hear the moans and smell the stench of the tenth Bolgia before he can see the tortured spirits that reside there. The smell of infection and pestilence fills the air. Most of the sinners here are weak from sickness. Some lie on their backs or stomachs while others crawl on the road. They tear at their skin trying to scratch the itchy patches of scabs that cover their bodies from disease. These sinners are alchemists and forgers of false metals. Also included among them are counterfeiters of currencies, perjurers and impersonators. Some of these spirits physically attack others because sickness has driven them mad. Others argue with each other as their skin smokes from the heat of their own fevers. All are extremely ill. “Everyone was plying fast the bit, Of nails upon himself, for the great rage, Of itching which no other succour had.”

Ninth Circle of Hell (Cantos XXXI –XXXIV)

In order to leave the eighth circle of hell and reach the depths of the ninth and final circle, Dante and Virgil enlist the help of a giant. From a distance, through darkness and haze, Dante mistakes hundreds of erect standing giants as towers of a city. These giants are trapped waist deep in the next pit of hell. The first that they come across is named Nimrod, who is blamed for the destruction of a single human language. Through his actions, man has been divided by languages and races.

The second giant that they encounter is named Ephialtes. He is chained with arms behind his back as punishment for challenging the gods. They pass these first two giants in their search for Antaeus, a giant who is unbound and can speak. This giant lowers them down into the ninth circle of hell.

At depths well below the feet of the giant, Dante and Virgil come to the fourth and final lake, Cocytus which is frozen to solid ice. This first ring of the ninth circle of hell is called Caina, where the sinners are locked within the ice, up to their necks. These sinners were traitors against their own family. “Livid, as far down as where shame appears, Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, Setting their teeth unto the note of storks.”

“Then I beheld a thousand faces, made Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder, And evermore will come, at frozen ponds.” They next enter the second ring of the ninth circle called Antenora. The sinners here are similarly punished however they are trapped in the ice in bent over positions. These sinners are guilty of being traitors against their country.

Dante and Virgil move further still, deeper into the center of hell. This third ring of the ninth circle is called Ptolomaea. The further into the ninth circle that they travel, the colder it has gotten. The sinners in this ring are guilty of being traitors against their guests. They are so cold that their tears have formed a visor over their eyes. Some of them have not yet even died. For this sin, their souls are dragged to hell to be punished by a demon who assumes control over their physical body on earth. “Because the earliest tears a cluster form, And, in the manner of a crystal visor, Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full.”

At the verge of entering into the fourth ring of the ninth circle of hell, Dante is shielded from a powerful wind by his guide Virgil. From this distance he thinks that he sees a giant windmill in the darkness of this pit of hell. This is Judecca, where the sinners are guilty of being traitors against their benefactors. Below his feet, the sinners in this ring were trapped in many positions, all completely buried beneath the surface of the ice.

As Dante nears the center of hell he can now see that the windmill is actually Lucifer himself. He is so big that he dwarfs even the giants that Dante recently passed. “The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous, From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; And better with a giant I compare.” Lucifer has three heads, each a different color. Below each mouth there was a pair of giant wings that were cause of the powerful wind. His six eyes were dropping tears which fell to his three mouths, mixing with a bloody drivel. Within each mouth, Lucifer chewed upon a sinner. The sinner being chewed in the center mouth was Judas who betrayed Jesus. The other two sinners where Brutus and Cassius, both guilty of betraying Caesar.

With the tour of hell complete, Dante takes hold of Virgil who climes down the Devil’s body. Virgil descents down below his waist using the long hair that covers Lucifer’s body. At this point he begins to ascend in the opposite direction. He explains to Dante that since the Devil is at the center of the earth, they have moved into the southern hemisphere so they must now change directions in order to leave hell. At the end of this road and back out of hell, Dante beholds a heavenly night sky full of stars.

Miguel Cervantes Don Quixote of La Mancha

El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha

 (English Translation) - The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha

           - Better known as simply,   "Don Quixote"

     In Miguel Cervantes’ 1605 novel Don Quixote of La Mancha, the main character is overcome be the stories and great adventures that he reads about. His love for stories about knights encompasses most of his time as he allows work and chores to go undone, passing hours at a time with his only focus within the pages of his prized books. At some point his own reality is replaced by the fictional stories that he has immersed himself in. The illustration below is the work of Gustave Dore. It features Don Quixote surrounded by images of characters found within the books be constantly reads.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “ALONE”

     One specific poem that Edgar Allan Poe wrote that very much has appealed to me is named, “Alone”. This piece was first published in 1829 and I think that for anyone that feels the need or passion to write fiction, this poem seems to define their inner self. At least this has held true for myself. I have always been an introvert. Except when writing I have always held my thoughts and feelings close to my chest. In Poe’s Alone, he tells us that even as a child he felt that he couldn’t fine joy in the same things that others did. But it was his experiences, seen through his own eyes that grew into the thinking that occupied his mind later in life. The links below will provide the full text of this poem. It’s a very short read but definitely a good one.

Poe’s “ALONE”

Summary of ERICH MARIA REMARQUE's - All Quiet on the Western Front

   “All Quiet on the Western Front”, written in 1928 by Erich M. Remarque is about the transformation of a young German teenager into a soldier. The story is told from the perspective of the main character, Paul Baumer as he tries to survive World War I. The reader is introduced to several of Paul’s close friends whom he fights alongside with, some of which he’s known most of his life. This is a very telling story of the experiences that faced soldiers of this error, and of war itself. This story, although a work of fiction was so powerful as an argument against war that it became one of the books that was burned during Hitler’s Third Reich. It was thought to give negative ideas about war and depicted the German solider as capable of fear in battle.

   Paul Baumer joined the German army at age eighteen along with his entire class because of the persuasion of their school master, Kantorek, a man who never fought himself. Any that refused to join faced criticism from family and friends; even their parents would call them cowards, in the end all of his classmates joined. The stories of the great German soldier and the propaganda promoting the war failed to meet the reality of the battlefield. Paul reflects that, “we were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; we had to shoot it to pieces.”

   Paul is separated from most of his classmates as they are divided up among the platoons. He, along with several others enter a platoon known to be the toughest. This platoon is run by Corporal Himmelstoss who never fought on the battlefield. The Corporal immediately took a dislike of Paul and his friends and spent his time making their lives as difficult as he could, continually seeking to give them punishment.

   The young men’s trials of survival begin almost at the very beginning of their army experience when dealing with their platoon leader. Himmelstoss’ lack of war experience becomes more reason for difficulties between himself and these young soldiers as they become more experienced at battlefield. Paul becomes aware of the great differences between those that fight and those that have not.

   One night the soldiers wait along a darkened path which Corporal Himmelstoss frequents when traveling home after leaving a pub. They ambushed him, cover him in a sheet and take turns beating him. Later in the story, Himmelstoss is eventually seen, cowering in a trench pretending to be injured. Following this first time on the battlefield, the next day he gets himself reassigned to as the cook. Himmelstoss now has a new view of the young soldiers who have survived day after day of battle. He gives them gifts of officer’s food out of what seems like respect.

   Throughout this tragic tale, the young men share in everything. The war has transformed their lives in every facet, changing boys to men under the shadow of a world at war. They changed from the very first bombardment that they experienced. They have become scavengers, constantly searching for food, cigarettes and equipment. Where they were once embarrassed to use open latrines in basic training they now convene outside in a circle, squatting over holes. 

   Each group of experienced solders has one man among them that seems to have a sixth sense which for Paul’s group is Stanislaus Katczinsky. Katczinsky, at 40 years old is the leader of this small group. Whether it is finding supplies or knowing how to cook a found meal such as a live goose or horse flesh, it is believed that they wouldn’t have survived as long as they did without him.

   The reader enters the novel during a meal at an army soup kitchen, following several days of fighting on the frontline. Immediately the reader gains an understanding of the great loss of lives that the soldiers have seen as few are alive to attend the meal.

   Paul and several of his friends go to a field hospital to meet another soldier that they knew from home. Doctors have already amputated this young man’s leg, but the men know from experience that he will soon be dead from infection anyway. Much like the lies told at home, they assure their friend that he will be sent home, because of his injury the war is over for him. During their visit, one of Paul’s friends asks to keep the amputated soldier’s boots, knowing that once he dies, all of his possessions will be picked through by the hospital staff. The boots, like the food and all supplies, including medicines are hard to find. They end up offering a hospital orderly several cigarettes in order to secure him a shot of morphine to stop his suffering for a short while. The pain killer was normally reserved only for officers because of the lack of supply.

   Paul waits with the dying man as trains arrive to take the injured to hospitals away from the front, but they leave him behind. The reader gains an understanding that they are just avoiding him until he finally dies. Paul watches as he wakes in a crying fit before death takes him.  In addition to the mass deaths of the battlefield, many injures end in death from the unsanitary conditions of the field hospitals and lack of medical supplies. Paul describes having to breath an “atmosphere of carbolic and gangrene” inside of the hospital. Following his death the staff is quick to remove him because they have been waiting for his bed.

   Most striking in this novel is what happens at the frontline. The groups of young soldiers move closer and closer to the front, they extinguish their cigarettes so they can’t be seen in the night. They walk through the smoky and tainted air left from their own artillery guns. Out ahead they can hear the roar and boom of explosions from the guns firing behind them. In front, the horizon glows red with returning fire from the enemy. Fear seizes the new recruits, but those that are more experienced focus on survival. Paul describes the front as Paul describes the front as a “mysterious whirlpool with a vortex sucking me into itself”.

   They sleep in holes, sometimes while bombs fall around them. The must wake to fight off rats who seek their food. The rats are fat from the meat of the dead. They have even attacked and ate other, larger animals found in the trenches.

   The soldiers know the sound of each incoming bomb. They know in advance whether it will fall short, pass by them or if they should take cover. They know from experience when the munitions carry a gas canister and they have to hold their breath and don a gas mask. The young men have become soldiers. They developed an ability to survive. The new recruits lack this instinct; many die in their first bombardment. Those that have lived through this over and over feel somewhat jealous of a recruit dying quickly, because they don’t have to become accustomed to war.

   As their own lines are constantly sent to the front and repeatedly beaten back, the enemy’s artillery becomes stronger. They can feel the strengthening of their forces. The army of the enemy comes close enough to see the features of their face. Body parts can be seen being ripped apart. Paul explains, “We do not fight, we defend ourselves against annihilation.” The enemy retreats and they pursue. The battle is back and forth through the trenches and craters.

   They watch as new recruits, with zero knowledge of how to survive the battlefield, fill vacancies among the ranks. Throughout the fighting, new recruits snap. The experienced soldiers keep an eye on them, but at intervals they go mad. As one’s nerves shatter, his screams and attempt to escape sets off others to follow. The fear seizes the new recruits, but those that are more experienced focus on survival.

   During one bombardment a horse farm is hit. The horses run in all directions. Those that are injured cry out, hidden in the thick clouds of the battle. The dead men all around them, body parts scattered about, the constant threat of bombs and gun fire, all of this is endured by the soldiers. But the groans of injured horses are unbearable. The soldiers hide in craters and cover their ears, but it is still too much for them to endure. The men take aim and kill them to stop the screams of pain.

   Paul is given seventeen days of leave, after which he is to report to a training camp. He has trouble coping with home. He hates what he sees as fake kindness shown to a soldier by civilians, knowing that they aren’t helping those on the battlefield, but are just being kind to make themselves feel good. At home he is asked by his sickly mother how it’s been, but he can’t answer her. Paul doesn’t know how to answer, she would never understand. He could never tell her about the things he’s seen. He’s infuriated with those that haven’t been through what he has. None of them understand. Being around the civilians, he realizes how much his live has changed.

   Paul Baumer left his home with a desire to serve his county honorably. After returning during a break, he is troubled by the idea that those at home are misinformed and mistaken about the war. Paul believes that the war will end in a loss for Germany. In fact, he can see from each battle that they have already lost. His family and neighbors far removed from the frontlines only know what the German government tells them, none of which seems accurate. Further, they don’t seem to understand the realities of war and the real losses being inflicted on Germany’s young soldiers. They can’t imagine that the German army may actually lose. Paul allows the lies to remain in his family’s minds. His own mind remains on the safety of his friends that he left behind on the battlefield.

   While at home he feels impelled to see the mother of the young man that he watched die at the hospital. She wants to know how if her son is dead, why Paul survived. He lies and swears that her son died instantly and didn’t feel any pain.

   At the training base he runs into trouble because he doesn’t salute a passing officer. Near the training base is a Russian prison camp. The prisoners spend their days digging through the soldiers’ trash looking for anything to eat. Most of the soldiers ignore the prisoners; Paul can’t help but stare at them while on duty as a guard. They are the enemy he fought in the field, but look nothing like it here. Before going back to the frontlines, Paul finds out that is mother has cancer and they are worried about the cost for her treatment.

   Upon his return to the front, Paul searches for his friends. When he does find them he shares the food brought from home. He has returned in time for an inspection. For days they drill and polish their uniforms as if there is not war at all. They question what they are fighting for and for further, what their enemies are fighting for. They wonder who could be benefitting from the war as it was certainly not those that had to fight it, on either side.

   The battles flow back and forth between attack and retreat as the dead fill the same craters that they hide in. The men that don’t die right away but waste away slowly far from any medical help, scream day and night until they fall unconscious or die. One such sole who screams for help for days is searched for several times but his voice seems to travel and he can’t be found. The screams are accompanied by the sound of the decomposing of bloated bodies. The days pass alternating from attack and retreat. The down time is filled by repairing trenches and the constant replacement of recruits to fill the ranks.

   Feeling that he owes his the platoon because of his leave, Paul volunteers to scout the strength of enemy positions. He is taken by surprise by a falling bomb and is disoriented. He has lost something needed form survival during his visit at home but is renewed when hearing the voices of his friends behind him. Paul pushes further on, crawling from hole to hole. He eventually gets lost and can’t determine which direction he is heading in. As he realizes this, an attack begins. Enemy troops pass over him as he lies in a water filled crater.

   While lying and waiting for the bombs to stop another body falls on him. Paul stabs the man in the dark. Machine gun fire is spraying just above ground level, he’s stuck. As light begins to fill the crater, he tends to the dying man. They wait together for hours as the man slowly bleeds to death. Paul thinks about the man he killed with his own hands. He thinks about what he would have been doing tomorrow, and about his family and the future that he took away from him. After the man finally dies, Paul apologizes.

   Days go by without being able to leave the crater that he now shares with the man he killed. Paul didn’t bring any food or water with him. He is finally able to leave the hole but now fears that his own men may shoot at him as he tries to return. Instead his friends find him with a stretcher in hand.

   Following this latest trip to the front, they are all reassigned to protect a supply dump. They find makeshift furnishings and food. The smoke from their cooking is seen by the enemy and bombing on the town begins. They remain for days relaxing as bombs tear the small town apart around them. Before long they receive more orders sending them to evacuate another village. Paul and one of his friends are injured during this mission and sent to a field hospital. They are told that they will be going home because of their injuries.

   The two soldiers are sent to a hospital away from the front for recovery. Here they are again surrounding by dying soldiers. The hospital place patients that they know are going to die in one particular room that becomes known as the dying room. The dying soldiers come in so rapidly that this reserved room isn’t large enough to contain them all.

   Paul is operated on and is sick for several days afterward. While recovering from surgery he sees more deaths and new patients arrive. The doctor seems to be finding things to operate on beyond the injuries that the soldiers are there for. He is experimenting on the wounded soldiers. Paul recovers enough to move on his own and sneak around the hospital. He finds that on other floors the injuries are even worse. He begins to realize the extent of the pain and death that the war is having on the world. Paul is finally given leave to return home where he finds his mother is much sicker than when he last left.

   He once again returns to the frontline. The battle is still fought by attack and counter attack, back and forth. The trenches have been ripped apart and are almost non-existent. Pockets of fighting continue as the front crumbles. Paul’s group is surrounded in a number of attacks and has to bury another of their friends. They are tired, starving and running out of supplies. They are supported by new recruits that don’t know how to fight, only how to die. They have given up all hope. Armored tanks now join the fighting effectively for the first time in history.

   Paul’s friends die or are injured one by one as the fighting continues. The German soldiers all know that they are losing. They hear rumors of a possible peace. They are overrun by allied aircraft all around them, yet the fighting continues. Paul carries a dying Katczinsky to safety but is too late, he is dead. Still the talk of peace is spread but the fighting continues. Paul knows that the war will soon end and he’ll be going home. He never makes it; he is killed before peace is agreed.

Summary of Edgar Allan Poe’s “Eulalie” – A Song

This lonely man lived alone deep in depression.
Even his soul remained unmoved, until he married a woman named Eulalie.
His blond haired bride brought happiness to his life withher smile.


Even her eyes shone brighter than the stars in the night sky.
A snow flake created by nature cannot compare to the beauty and uniqueness of even a strand of hair or the most unkept curl on her head.


With her in his life, he never feels doubt and never experiences pain anymore.
In marriage their souls have become one.
Every day begins bright and sunny for as long as Eulalie lives on.

Comments on Classic Literature - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN

The main character of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is not the monster itself as one would think prior to reading the classic work, but it is the monster’s creator. Victor Frankenstein gives life to the monster that he then turns his back on. He is disgusted with the mere look of the creature. When Victor hears of his younger brother’s murder and witnesses the monsters presence near his family’s home, he is struck with terror that his own creation is the murder. Justine, a young woman who Victor’s mother had taken into their home as a child is accused of the murder. Victor is certain that the monster is the real culprit but doesn’t think anyone will believe his crazy story of his actually creating life. Following her trial, Justine is put to death for the murder of the child. Victor places blame on himself for not only creating the monster who murdered his brother, but also for the death of the innocent Justine.

     Should Victor have fought for Justine’s innocence instead of remaining quiet? If he had, given the time period for which the story takes place, would he himself have been locked away, thought to be crazy? I think that his true mistake was not in creating the monster since his main pursuit was to help man in general from the loss of life prematurely. His true mistake was in remaining silent and allowing an innocent person to perish at the hand of the state.

Fearing “The Don Quixote Effect”

Can books and/or story reading and writing cause you to go o n a knight’s errand? Not to say that in the present day one might head out on a horse seeking the honor and adventures of a classical knight, but can the love of books, both reading and writing them, actually dominate someone’s life to the point that it replaces reality. Well I think to some degree it can.

In Miguel Cervantes’ book “Don Quixote of La Mancha”, Quixote is so attached to the stories that he reads, it causes him to seek these adventures in his real life. I myself may not be taping together a helmet to match my grandfather’s armor, but there are plenty of times that reality is set aside as I am more focused on a story that are being played out in my head. There are times that I am so into a book that I am currently reading. In my head I am thinking about the last chapter where I was forced to put it down. Other times I may be thinking about the next chapter of my own novel and am not focused on what is happening right in front of me. Is this a typical symptom of regular reading and writing of stories? I am calling this “The Don Quixote Effect”, of a great literary works. I strive to have my own writing cast this spell over others.

If you were Dr. Frankenstein would you have created a female companion for his monster?

In Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s classic work Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818, the main character Dr. Frankenstein creates life from dead body parts. He builds his monster taller and stronger than any man. When the monster comes to life, Frankenstein is horrified by the disgusting grotesqueness of the beast and runs from it. This monster in turn leaves alone, constantly running from human contact. As the monster begins to learn and think he returns to Dr. Frankenstein and kills those around him. He asks that Dr. Frankenstein create a second monster, a female companion for himself, so that he doesn’t have to be alone. He promises that if this second beast is created, they will leave human civilizations for good and live atop a mountain where no man can sustain life. However, if he should refuse this one request of a companion then the monster vows to continue to kill everyone around Dr. Frankenstein.

Dr. Frankenstein is torn. He doesn’t what to see anyone else hurt by his creation, but having two creatures may result in more murder. Since he refuses the monster’s request to create this female companion, the monster kills Dr. Frankenstein’s new bride on their wedding day. With this constant fear for the lives of those around you, could you make the same decision as Dr. Frankenstein? Or would you create the second monster and hope he keeps his word to avoid all human contact?

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

     The riddle, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” is quoted from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The story was first published in 1865. It tells the tale of a young girl who follows a rabbit down

into a hole, which opens up into a world of fantasy. The story gained popularity from its nonsensical style. Many of the events, characters and dialog have led to much debate from differing interpretations. Little equals the depth of intrigue that has stemmed from the question posed to Alice, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

     As Alice roams through wonderland she seeks advice on where she should travel next. She decides to follow directions to the March Hare’s house. Upon arriving at the home she encounters a tea party which is attended by the March Hare, the Hatter and a Dormouse. Alice takes a seat at the table and begins conversing with the March Hare and the Hatter as the Dormouse drifts in and out of consciousness. The Hatter asks Alice his riddle of the raven and writing desk. Alice enjoys riddles so tries to think of an answer to this question. She is unable to solve the Hatter’s riddle so she then asks him for the answer. The Hatter admits that he also does not know what the answer could be. This riddle is left unanswered and never again addressed within the rest of the story. This riddle without an answer gave rise to speculation from readers.

     In a later edition to the book of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, the author Lewis Carroll tries to give readers an answer to the Hatter’s riddle. This came as a response to many questions asked by readers and

fans of his work. Carroll confirmed that there was never supposed to be an answer. The riddle itself, with no answer was purposeful to the direction of the story. The book questioned things that didn’t seem to make sense and couldn’t be answered in life or society. He did however concede to his audience by giving an answer that he felt most fitting with the story. Within the preface to the 1896 edition, Lewis Carroll wrote that a raven is like a writing desk, “because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front.” He intentionally spelled never with an “a” which became the word raven backwards, or with its wrong end in front.

     As many other have since tried to answer the Hatter’s riddle some to the most creative ideas include:

Because Poe wrote on both (Sam Loyd)

Because the notes for which they are noted are not for being musical notes (Sam Loyd)

Because they both slope with a flap (Cyril Pearson)

Both have quills dipped in ink (Unknown Author)

Jerome Klapka Jerome Three Men in a Boat

     I have just begun the novel “Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome Klapka Jerome. It is a comedy about the travels of three men and a dog upon a boat. Much of it is the tangents that the narrator rambles into as the story unfolds. It is so far a very different type of novel than any other that I have ever read. In the meantime, I am currently trying to find and upload all of Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry. There is quite a bit but they are quite well written so I am enjoying adding them to Descriptive Phrases.com for all to have access to. Thanks for reading.

Finished reading HG Wells The Time Machine

     I recently finished reading H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine". My overall impression was that this novel was a rather interesting read. Although short, it was an excellent lite read, either for travel, as I used it for, or as an easy summer read. Wells is a wonderfully descriptive and imaginative author. For those that tend to read newly released novels but have an interest in reading more classics, this book is an excellent way to start.

Just began to read H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine

   I am on a week-long trip to the Western Coast of Florida, so there will be very few blog entries until I return. Along with seeing the sites and visiting family, I began to read H. G. Wells’ “The Time Machine”. I just started and am already enjoying it. What strikes me as most unique is the lack of character’s names. From the first chapter we are being retold a story of “The Time Traveler” as it was told to the narrator. The narrators even neglects to tell us “The Time Traveler’s” name, but instead leaves him referred to with that title alone, “The Time Traveler”. Odd. Very odd for a novel, but interesting.

     The story begins with The Time Traveler explaining to a group of guests the geography of the fourth dimension. I love a well written novel, especially when I learn something new and thought provoking. A short segment from this discussion between The Time Traveler and his guests about the fourth dimension that I found most interesting follows below:

 

     “There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter; because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.

     Now, it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked,' continued the Time Traveler, with a slight accession of cheerfulness. Really this is what is meant by the Fourth Dimension, though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know they mean it. It is only another way of looking at Time. There is no difference between time and any of the three dimensions of space except that our consciousness moves along it. But some foolish people have got hold of the wrong side of that idea.”

 

     I hope this small segment can spark some interest for others to read this classic work by a great author, H. G. Wells. If you’ve already read this book, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Happy Reading!!!