Critique of New Historicism

Henry James said, "It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature." That being said, Literature is made of history, which means that it is a product of time, culture, place, political behavior, and phenomena in sociology. It is more than just a written text of the author. The same positive idea was highlighted in new historicism. However, there are limitations and disadvantages that the theory was composed of.   

According to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New Historicism is a literary theory based on the idea that literature should be studied and interpreted within the context of both the history of the author and the history of the critic. Based on the literary criticism of Stephen Greenblatt and influenced by the philosophy of Michel Foucault, New Historicism acknowledges not only that a work of literature is influenced by its author's times and circumstances, but that the critic's response to that work is also influenced by his environment, beliefs, and prejudices.  

Many consider literary works as an art that has no value in the real world, besides many argue about the importance of it to education, without analyzing and appreciating literary works with the use of new historicism. Such approach to literary criticism give consideration to an external aspect of the work rather than isolating it only to the meaning of the words used, which means that new criticism would help the critics reveal the history of a certain period in which the work has been written.

New Historicist focuses on the historical context of literature, analyzing how the writer's times affected the work and how the work reflects the writer's times, which would lead to a realization of the relevance of the past to the current cultural contexts because cultural history can be revealed by studying the work. If only critics would dig deeper into the literary works then it would be much easier for him to relate the work to whatever idea that comes to his mind.   With the new historicism, criticism is objective to the historical background and carries a strong reference in terms of giving meaning to the work. However, history is wide and composed of several elements and influences. So, there would be a possibility that the historical context within the work would not be the right or even the closest clue to the real meaning of the literary work. In fact, there were historical events and shreds of evidence that were not yet proven to be true or existed. So, it will be hard for critics to apply history in analyzing a work. There are also instances that the work is dedicated to someone or something that has not existed in the period it was written. Furthermore, it makes the analysis dull because the scope of the study is limited only to the history which means that critics cannot give their personal insights about the work, they cannot share how the work relates to them, and they are restricted to give their own meaning to the literary work being studied.

Therefore, new historicism is objective because it is supported by history, but at the same time, it is complex because history has a wide content area. It is good for those who are in the field of history, but bad for those who don’t know how to relate historical ideas to literary work. It reflects the author’s history but doesn’t reflect the critic’s thoughts and feelings.

Literary Analysis of On Thinking for Oneself by Arthur Schopenhauer

People thought that learning comes only from reading. However, On Thinking for Oneself by Arthur Schopenhauer shows the effects of reading on learning, and would make the reader/s questioned the way of learning that people have undergone nowadays. It reveals the power of our individual thought and it leads us to the truth.

On Thinking for Oneself is composed of eleven paragraphs. Each paragraph highlights the essence of thinking. In the first paragraph, it says there that if the knowledge gained wasn’t been elaborated by our own thought then it is useless. That being said, once we gained something from books, we have to think about it multiple times- elaborate, test, and analyze to see if what we gained are all facts. Also,  we will know what one thinks if we read their books because what they have written in their books is the product of their thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about a certain subject. 

In the second paragraph, reading and learning are achievable by everyone. Everyone can read and learn, but thinking about what we read is hard because it needs personal interest, which means that if we are not interested in what we read then we will never put our thoughts on it- the ideas present in the said book or article that we read. Thomas Szasz said, “Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.”

In the third paragraph, the author said that if you take a book, you would lose your original thought, your own perception about a certain subject, which on the other hand, makes men intelligent and stupid by scholars because they never had given the opportunity the learners to think about the subject, to discover ideas and facts about the subject. Learners gained knowledge from books, instead of discovering it on their own. As the pope says,  “For ever reading, is never to be read” which means that constant reading is no longer a way to gain knowledge. The more information you get, the more you lose your capability to think. Wisdom doesn’t come from reading a book but instead experiencing and applying what’s in the book. 

In the fourth paragraph, it stated there that scholars are those who read the book, but geniuses are those who experience and thought about the nature of the book, or what’s inside of the book, which means that real knowledge is applied and experienced. Christopher Crawford  said “knowledge without application is like a book that is never read'

In the fifth paragraph, it highlighted that reading is like taking other’s thoughts without being invited, which is called an alien thought, stated in the second paragraph. Alien thought is present in all of us, which made us feel impressed by other ideas. We think that we are less intelligent for not having such ideas, without knowing that we can also acquire such knowledge if only we trust our own thought. If only we are interested enough to discover facts rather than relying on other thoughts, then we could come up with the wisdom we seek for.

In the seventh paragraph, reading is like substituting our own thought. There are a lot of books that are good at showing fallacy to influence readers. If we allow these books to guides us, then we may lose the track of the real facts.  We should only read when our own thought failed, for example, if we are trying to seek for the best strategy or solution to a particular problem and our assumption failed, then it’s best for us to read something about the nature of the problem, and then come up again with another assumption until we would get the right one.   

In the eighth to the eleventh paragraph, it says there that sometimes books give us an easy way to find the truth, but regardless it would be much worth it to attain such truth on our own. Goethe’s verse goes; what thou hast inherited from thy father, acquire it, in order to possess it. We have to acquire the knowledge on our own to possess wisdom. This applies to most philosophers, they used an alien thought to resemble a new material. They modify the ideas of other people to create their own discovery. 

Furthermore,  we can acquire knowledge through experiences, little reading, and intercourse with others. That being said, we should live with wisdom, not just gain it, as Bob Proctor quoted; 

“No amount of reading or memorizing will make you successful in life. It is the understanding and application of wise thought that counts."

Literary Analysis of Gambling Hansel by Grimm Brothers

Have you ever indulge yourself in gambling? Did you win or lose? What did you get after? In most cases, people do it for fun at first, then, later on, they get addicted to it. A gambler never makes the same mistake twice. It is usually three or more times, said VP Pappy. The story Gambling Hansel by Grimm Brothers would give the readers a much clearer view of the effects of gambling when get addicted to it.

In the story, Hansel is the main character who wants to gamble almost every time. That is why he was called a gambling hansel. He was addicted to it, which lead to the point where he lost everything. Then, the Lord and St. Peter came to his house. They tested Hansel, and Hansel got tempted many times. However, they grant Hansel three wishes, though he wishes for cards and dice that would help him to win in gambling and a tree. Hansel died but continued to gamble in hell with Lucifer. He was thrown to the earth by the Lord, and his soul was broken into pieces and got into gamblers today.   

Dr. Luke Clark said that gambling games promote an ‘illusion of control’: the belief that the gambler can exert skill over an outcome that is actually defined by chance. In the story, Hansel exerted so much effort to win the game, that he even sacrificed his time and assets for an uncertain result. The uncertainty plays a crucial role for people to be attracted to gambling. Mike Robinson, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Wesleyan University, stated that Dopamine, the neurotransmitter the brain releases during enjoyable activities such as eating, sex, and drugs, is also released during situations where the reward is uncertain. In fact, dopamine release increases particularly during the moments leading up to a potential reward. This anticipation effect might explain why dopamine release parallels an individual’s levels of gambling “high” and the severity of his or her gambling addiction. It likely also plays a role in reinforcing the risk-taking behavior is seen in gambling.

Furthermore, Hansel was smart in a bad way seems like he knew what will happen to him. He tricked the Lord and St. Peter, and even Lucifer. Beatrice Lipson featured on her blog that gambling and winning require a person to think logically and strategically. Thus it helps a person become a smart thinker. Besides being smart, it also makes a person more social, and it is a good way to take a break from the monotonous everyday life and add some spices to it. If not addicted, a little bit of gambling can provide a person with a lot of refreshment and enjoyment.

Aside from revealing why there are impulsive gamblers on earth, it reveals also how good the Lord is- for still giving what Hansel asked for his gambling addiction, knowing that it is bad for him. The Lord is patient for not punishing him right away, which means he was given a chance to apologize and change. In Numbers 14:18, it says there that the Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity, and transgression. But, he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.

It is sad, however, that some people do not repent for their sins and keep committing the same mistakes. The theme of the story is we maybe have time to enjoy doing bad on earth, but for sure, the heaven above will not have time to entertain us neither knew our name. So, follow what Acts 3:19 says: 

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

Formalistic Criticism of George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"

The story is written in chronological order, but it started with a flashbacking scene of the main character to where the setting is placed, which is in Moulmein, in lower Burma. The author used the first-person point of view, and the character was not named, other than describing it as a white sub-divisional police officer of the town.

In the first paragraph, the author described the tension between European people and the native people in Moulmein. The second paragraph shows how the character hated his job, and so he planned to get out of it. He was on the side of the Burmese, even though he worked in the British Empire.  Moving forward, the character started to retell the incident that he was ashamed of and somehow gave him a glimpse of the nature of imperialism. He received a report from the co-police that an elephant is ravaging the bazaar, and so he responded with his rifle, an old 44 Winchester, to protect himself but not to kill the elephant.  The elephant is tame, but it would attack when obliged to. The Burmese population had no weapons and was quite helpless against it. In this part, the elephant symbolizes the Burmese people. It would attack if necessary, but its main purpose is to work and act as a huge and costly piece of machinery. Then later, he saw a dead man, and so he borrowed an elephant rifle. After a few minutes, he had the rifle and five cartridges, and the people started to put their attention to him, knowing that the elephant was going to be shot.

 It shows how people are more interested in killings than ravaging their homes because for the English crowd- it is fun since they would have meat. Rifle symbolizes the British empire- how they made fun of the Burmese and how interesting for them to kill to benefit themselves. At this part, the character started to be uncomfortable with the pressures he received from the crowd. He doesn’t have any intention to kill the elephant, but it was expected for him to do so- as an officer. 

The conflict of the story is Man (or person) vs. self, wherein the character had a struggle between fulfilling his role or follow what he thinks is right or his principle. Then in the latter part of the story, he fulfilled his role- to kill the elephant. He shot the elephant multiple times, and it was late for him to realize that it would take half an hour for the elephant to die. He has done it to impress the crowd. The last part highlighted the theme of the story, which is “to impress people is to ignore your principle.”

Formalistic Criticism of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Eagle"

The poem is full of figurative language such as personification and alliteration in the first line. The eagle is addressed as “he” which means that the eagle is comparable to humans. The words clasps, crag, and crooked are alliteration, which made the concept of an eagle more interesting. The poet indirectly described the ability of an eagle- that it can hold on tightly to a rugged cliff.

In the second line, it stated there that the eagle is close to the sun, which is a hyperbole statement because an eagle can't get closer to the sun. Otherwise, the eagle will die. However, this symbolizes that an eagle can soar faster and fly higher than any other bird.  Also, alliteration is shown after the hyperbole- “lonely lands”, which means that the eagle can travel to places where there is nothing there but only the land and the eagle.

In the third line, there’s the presence of visual imagery by the words ring’d and azure world. Ring’d mean wearing a ring or engagement, which symbolizes having authority over something or someone while azure means the blue color in a clear daytime sky. That being said, the eagle owns the blue sky, or simply the sky. Besides, it was also supported by the next two words “he stands” which interpreted as an eagle ruled the sky.

In the fourth line, there is also the presence of imagery- of a “wrinkled sea” which means the waves of the sea, the following is the description of the sea- beneath him crawls. This line tells that the eagle is terrified of the sea.

In the fifth line, there is a metaphor- mountain walls. This means that the eagle is watching the view from the top of the mountains where he hides. A wall symbolizes something that protects the people, and so the poet uses “mountain walls” to emphasize that the mountain is the thing that protects him-the eagle.

The final line has a simile- like a thunderbolt. Thunderbolt has imagery of being fast or quick. By that, this line means that after the eagle watched from the mountain, he flew down at a super-speed as he falls. 

The poem is divided into two stanzas with 3 lines each. The rhyme scheme is triplet for both stanzas which it often repeats like a couplet, uses a rhyme scheme of “AAA.”

The use of an eagle, it describes the beauty of nature. In every place that the eagle had traveled, it has a different view and treated it differently, regardless of the different beauty that our nature had offered, all of it looks wonderful. This just highlighted the subject of individuality- is what makes the world so beautiful.

Classical Criticism of Anton Chekhov's “The Bet”

 

The short story revolves around a young lawyer who truly believes that life in imprisonment is better than a death sentence because for him to live anyhow is better than not at all, and the banker who throw a bet for the young lawyer that if ever he could survive in prison for five years, which became 15 years, then the young lawyer would receive a two million. The barker believes that the death penalty is much better than a life in imprisonment because, for him, capital punishment kills a the man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly.

    Anton Chekhov uses foreshadowing as the literary device of the story in the presence of the old banker. The story started when the old banker remembers how he gives a party one autumn evening, and talked about capital punishment and imprisonment with many journalists and intellectual men then throw a bet. However, it was stated in the story that he was carried by excitement. Therefore, the decision about the bet was not wisely planned, rather just the product of emotional arousal. In the page of N., Pam M.S., Psychomotor excitement, it states there that the excited patient is constantly on the move but totally unproductive because he constantly shifts from activity to activity and does not finish one task before starting another. In this “flight of ideas” there is often little more than a superficial connection between one thought or one word and the next. Therefore, His flow of talk is a continuous series of digressions and interruptions. The patient’s emotions are equally volatile, and he may reach a manic state in which he becomes excited, effervescent, and irrepressible. He talks glibly, has a ready solution for every problem, and suggests the wildest schemes with complete confidence and assurance. The same way happened to the old barker when he suddenly throws a bet in the middle of the discussion.

    The author expresses the importance of music in dealing with loneliness and depression. It was shown by the presence of the young lawyer during the first year of his confinement. He was lonely and depressed, so he played piano day and night from his lodge. This scene represents music as a therapy for most people who suffer from mental health. Dr. Gjin Ndrepepa said that the common thing in most music therapies and researches is that a therapist uses music to heal the social, physical, emotional pain of a person. Within a therapeutic context, the music empowers a person to express inner feelings in a non-verbal way.

    He (the young lawyer) was never tempted to take wine and tobacco because he knows how it will affect his well-being as a prisoner. Wine and tobacco are indeed proven that had a bad effect on health when overconsumed, and now there are cases that the overconsumption of the two leads to death and/or unnecessary behavior. Moving on, the young lawyer read literary works instead. The author shows how rich and interested people are in literature- for it provides the world with incredible, fantastic novels for two centuries now — and continues to do so.

    However, the young lawyer slowly stopped his routine in the second to fifth year. He takes wine, and play silent to audible music. He wrote more than reading. Then, study languages and other academics and later on put his interests in the Gospel.

    After the flashbacks, the story focused on the banker, the day before the young lawyer will regain his freedom. He thinks that what happened was a curse bet. However, because of his greed and afraid of being broke, he thought of killing the young lawyer since he can’t let himself be ruined by giving his two million. The idea of freedom here was suffering, which means that if one gains his freedom, the other will suffer.  This shows that someone can kill somebody, just for the sake of money. Ph.D. Leon F Seltzer said that- of all the things one might be addicted to, nothing tops the greed-laden pursuit of wealth in its audacity, manipulativeness, and gross insensitivity to the needs and feelings of others. Not to mention its extreme, short-sighted, irresponsible covetousness. The banker was about to break the deal and commit an irresponsible crime against the young lawyer. However, he had read first the letter of the young lawyer saying that he despises all the earthy things such as the wisdom he tried to achieve for fifteen years, the imaginative experience he had been through, and the million he once dreamed of. So, he planned that five hours before he will gain his freedom, he will escape with nothing but his new beliefs and perception about life and heaven. This part of the story is close to the life of Saint Francis of Assisi, in which he spent life in imprisonment and received a call from God. Then, later on, he returned the money to his father. The same way happened to the young lawyer, which made the theme of the story as “the words of God can change a man.”

Literary Study of William Shakespeare "Sonnet 29"

Focus: Formalistic Criticism 

SONNET 29 of William Shakespeare

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

 

Lines: 14 lines

Rhyming scheme: ABABCDCDEBEBFF

Metrical pattern: Iambic pentameter

Stanzas: One-stanza

Sonnet: 

A sonnet is a one-stanza, 14-line poem, written in iambic pentameter. The sonnet, which derived from the Italian word sonetto, meaning “a little sound or song," is "a popular classical form that has compelled poets for centuries," says Poets.org.

Main point: 

Love takes away negative thoughts. The speaker of this sonnet expresses the self-pity of not having all the things that he dreamed of, such as having something that would give him hopes and friends, be good in art, and all the other things that he wishes for. However, when he thinks of the love he received from somebody, he feels better because he thinks that a sweet love from someone is the wealth that is never irreplaceable.

Sonnet structured:

•  All sonnets have 14 lines, which can be broken down into four sections called quatra.
• The rhyme scheme of a Shakespearean sonnet, for example, is ABAB / CDCD / EFEF / GG (note the four distinct sections in the rhyme scheme).
• Sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, a poetic meter with 10 beats per line made up of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables.

Is Philippine education really deteriorating?

The Department of Education adopted the new curriculum eight years ago. May 29, 2013, it was the time when the program was signed by the former President Benigno Aquino III, which shows that the Philippine government is trying to make a progress in the educational system in the country. In fact, there is a budget for the implementation of the Basic Educational Facilities Program; the creation of teaching and non-teaching positions; the provision of educational assistance for Deped. For CHED, they prioritize the Grant of scholarships and financial assistance; implementation of the Free Higher Education Program. For TESDA, Provision of skills-based courses and training to help Filipinos, especially out-of-school youths. Therefore, I don’t think that Philippine education is deteriorating. 

Issues and surveys are circulating that our Philippine teachers opted to work abroad due to a lack of support from the government and/or for any other personal reasons. However, that doesn’t affect the progress of the educational system that the government is trying to work on. Of course, they cannot provide everything, for education, in just a day. There is a process to follow. Besides, the new curriculum, new school buildings, educational resources: computers, laptops, flat-screen, books, and other educational resources for both teachers and students were seen and appreciated by the people.  

I, for one, can tell how much progress do schools and education as a whole have now. Back when I was in grade 7, I didn’t know how to use a computer, and also I don’t have social media, because we were not exposed to anything that involves media and technology, which is the opposite in today's grade 7 learners who already knew how to manipulate computers at an early age. At that time I was persistent to at least encode and be aware of the usage of computers, but unfortunately, there was no computer/s set in the school where I attended, not until I was in the 9th grade. After two years of waiting, our school opened the computer laboratory, and that was when I started to learn. With the new curriculum, the school was able to open ICT classes and integrate technology in the teaching-learning process. I was able to encode and make PowerPoint presentations and animations. 

The government is working on achieving better quality education for the students, not to mention the teachers are having lots of seminars and training to be fully equipped with the right strategies and knowledge about the subject/s and in the field of the teaching-learning process.