Pride And Prejudice

A proposal will never work when it is devoid of love, its place filled with talk of money and convenience.
Mr. Collins' choice of words in his proposal to Elizabeth make him seem like exactly the opposite of any man a girl would like to marry. Even his first few words of the marriage proposal are enough to turn her away. He says, "Believe me, my dear Miss Elizabeth, that... you would have been less amiable in my eyes had there not been this little unwillingness; but allow me to assure you that I have your respected mother's permission for this address" (Jane Austen). The problem about what he says here is that he is so formal. Calling her Miss Elizabeth puts a huge gap between the two. They are like two absolute strangers instead of cousins, or more importantly, in the middle of a marriage proposal. It almost feels like he is pushing Elizabeth away, and when he later goes on to talk about her mother, out of any word he could have picked, he chose the word respected. Elizabeth's mother must be his aunt if Mr. Collins and Elizabeth are cousins, so should he not call her mother something more endearing? Instead, he seems to place Elizabeth and her mother as an entity that has nothing to do with him, almost.
Elizabeth wisely rejects him, and he says narcissisticly, "As I must therefore conclude that you are not serious in your rejection of me, I shall chose to attribute it to your wish of increasing my love by suspense, according to th usual practice of elegant females" (Jane Austen). The phrase he picks is "I shall chose". I believe he is being stubborn out of pride, and knows that Elizabeth is rejecting him because she does not love him. I believe that he can not stand being rejected by a woman that he calls repeatedly poor, and even went as far as to say, "...it is by no means certain that another offer of marriage may ever be made to you". He seems like he will not give up on her because he can not understand how a girl he sees as so low and below him as rejecting what he believes to be such a fine offer. It is almost like he believes Elizabeth should embrace his proposal the same way she would if a person were to give her the gift of the lost city of Atlantis.
Mr. Collins could have presented his proposal in a better way, but his lack of love for Elizabeth would have shown through anyway. Had, instead of saying, "...I am, to inherit this estate after the death of your honored father (who, however, may live many years longer), I could not satstfy myself without resolving to chose a wife from among his daughters, that the loss to them might be as little as possible..." (Jane Austen), he could have said that in a lighter tone, and kept himself off such a high pedestal. Here, he gives himself a lot of credit, saying that he is choosing a wife among the daughters so that he can ease their pain because he is inheriting the house. He could have said only that he was to inherit the house, while leaving out the part of easing their pain and their father dying. On that point, he calls their father honored. This is like when he called their mother respected, instead of calling her something more loving and familiar. He goes out of his way to be respectful, which would be nice and polite in a conversation of another topic, such as a friendly conversation, but it is not so in a proposal. Then, it is ridiculous and almost insulting.
The nicest thing he says through this entire scenario is, "...I cannot imagine that her ladyship would at all disapprove of you" (Jane Austen). I do not even know who it is that he is referring to, but I know that if I was being proposed to, I would not like it for him to be bringing other women into it. He makes it seem like he is only marrying Elizabeth because it would please this woman, who is probably rich and influential, and a person whom he wants to impress. That is not very romantic or appealing.
Mr. Collins also says the words, "...after your mother's decease" (Jane Austen). Now, within one marriage proposal, he has spoken of the death of both of her parents. That is definitely the most unappealing thing a man could do while proposing. He has insulter her the entire time, and then talks about the death of her family, as if it were some nonchalant event that would not effect her life whatsoever. If he wanted to make his proposal better, it would be best to leave those parts out, along with leaving out absolutely everything he said, other than "my dear... Elizabeth" (Jane Austen). He could then say something nice, or something absurd of that nature.

TAoHF notes. Forgot about the assignment and left my book in my locker. Yay google?

The way Jim speaks is a critique of the south and their uneducated black population:
"'Yes-en I's rich now, come to look at it. I owns mysef, en I's wuth eight hund'd dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn' want no''" (52). Even though Jim is an adult, it's very hard to even understand what he's saying. He's so uneducated that it's difficult to get what he's saying.

Huck's bad grammar and mixed up tenses seem to be a critique:
"I knowed he was white inside" (301). He's only a kid, but he should be old enough to be able to speak properly. Because he had lived with a father who hadn't wanted him to become smarted than he was, Huck grew not liking school and not being interested in it, and therefore he spoke ignorantly.

Racism, even in Huck, who was young and inexperienced was a critique:
"Conscience says to me 'What had poor Miss Watson done to you, that you could see her nigger go off right under your eyes and never say one single word? What did that poor old woman do to you, that you could treat her so mean?...' I got to feeling so mean and so miserable I most wished I was dead" (97). He had grown up around racism and so he really didn't know any better. It was so deep-seeded into his mind and everyday life that it took his long adventure to realize that all people were equal.

Honor in TCoMC

Christina DeSario
9•10•09
Mr. George- AP English
Honor in Monte Cristo

In The Count of Monte Cristo, honor plays a big part in the decisions that the characters make. In the case of Morrel, when his money had dwindled down to a small pool of pocket change in comparison to his debts, he resorted to suicide. “‘I will await you, monsieur,’ said Morrel, ‘and you will be paid or else I shall be dead’” (178). Morrel meant these words, and so when he felt that he was out of money, he resorted to his gun.
Monsieur Morrel would have rather been dead that have such a mark on his soul as not being able to pay the debts he had promised to pay off. Instead of living with the reputation of someone who could not repay his debts, which would undeniably overtake his reputation of a good, moral person because people usually remember the bad and not the good, he chose to quit while he was ahead and die the honest person everyone would remember.
Honor makes you who you are. With honor, people respect and look up to you. When you are a business man, like Morrel, the opinions of other people matter a lot. Honor is not only the way others perceive you, but the way you perceive yourself. “‘See to it, my son, that our name will not be dishonoured’” (184). Even though Monsieur Morrel is planning to kill himself, he is still worried about his family name and what would happen to it after his death.
To Morrel, honor is a huge deal. If he would rather be dead than be considered dishonest by his peers, that shows exactly how much he values the goodness of his name. In The Count of Monte Cristo, especially with Morrel, honor is the same as oxygen. Without it, life is just not worth living, or rather, it is impossible to live without it.
Morrel said, “‘Yes... I bless you in my own name and in the name of three generations of irreproachable men’” (184). Recalling that history and hoping for a longer history filled with honesty, Morrel wanted to die with his highest value still in tact: his honor.

Page of TCoMC notes 9•9

Christina DeSario
9•9•09
Mr. George- AP English Language 11
Dantes as God

When Edmond Dantes with God, he is like the Noah’s Ark story. He, at first, is sweet and happy. Then, people around him do evil things, and he decides to get back at them while also saving those he was close to like the Morrels. “‘Father!’ cried the girl out of breath and overcome with joy. ‘You are saved! You are saved!’” (185). Here, under the alias Sinbad, Edmond saved Monsieur Morrel from suicide by paying Julie’s Dowry and rebuilding the Pharaon. He did godly things by saving a family that was always loyal to him and even his father.
Like God, people respected Dantes and were on his side. “‘Ground arms!’ shouted the chief with a commanding sweep of one hand, whilst with the other he respectfully took off his hat” (223-224). Even a bandit who kidnapped people and put ransom on them later says, “‘Why didn’t some of you tell me of this?’ inquired the brigand chief, turning toward his men, who all retreated before his look. ‘Why have you allowed me to fail thus in my word toward a gentleman like the Count who has all our lives in his hands? By heavens! if I thought that one of you knew that the gentleman was a friend of His Excellency’s, I would blow his brains out with my own hand!” (224). The Count has friends all over, making everything he does easier.
When Dantes saves Valentine, he believes she looks like she “was sleeping with the confidence and innocence of an angel at the feet of the Lord” (510). He had just given her a concoction that would make her sleep and have her family believe she was dead. She trusted Dantes, making him the Lord that was protecting the sleeping angel.
When Edmon and Fernand meet again as themselves, Fernand is terrified. He acts like a sinner facing God on Judgment Day. “With a moan that can be compared to no human sound, he dragged himself to the yard, staggering like a drunken man, and fell into his valet’s arms” (486). Edmond is God by the fear and respect he stirs in people, and protection he can offer.