Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens in his story “Oliver Twist” has portrayed modernity in all its aspects, for instance the relationship between the city and the country, the lack of good life conditions and loneliness.
When I saw the movie I immediately reflected on those children who live in bad conditions without medicine, warm clothes, food or a house. Nowadays when we see a child begging for money, we don’t care about him/her. Moreover that child is invisible to our eyes. Probably those children use delinquency as their ally to survive in our society and we blame them for their actions. In my case I used to see those kids near to the Posta Central and I don’t do something to help them. Sadly, my individualistic point of view has develop that indifference and modernization has also contributed to my individualism, everything is fast and I don’t have enough time to do something and I don’t devote time to change it.

Oliver Twist must be taught in schools because it makes us reflect on our “modern society” and individualism, and students also could think about children who don’t have parents or a house. In that way they could be more empathic and they could appreciate what they have.

The signal-man by Charles Dickens

I really enjoyed reading this short story, it was amazing how this story was developed and I never expected its ending. It also made me feel anguish because the story was terrifying!
When I was reading I asked to myself , How has modernity affected our lives?
Modernity has developed a lack of good life conditions, for instance it is not healthy work too many hour per day or work isolated. However some people accept those conditions in order to “improve” their life. But that improvement is just an illusion due to the fact, they waste all their energy trying to earn more money working more hours. For that reason mental diseases are related to these work conditions. The signal man was mentally disturbed, he saw a ghost in the railway, as a result of working alone in a small box. Nowadays people suffer stress, depression or panic crisis. Having those diseases, they couldn’t work for the reason that they are completely disabled for the society.
I believe that the ghost that the signal man saw wanted that he stops and reflects on what he was doing- in his life. It’s the same when we suffer stress, which is a sing that tells us stop, take your time and think about everything in your live.

Franki!

After reading Frankenstein and Mary Shelley’s biography I realized that she portrayed herself in some way because she grew up without her mother and she was rejected by her father. Probably the feeling of loneliness inspirited her to write Frankenstein.


Victor Frankenstein played with the power of nature even more he challenged the process of life and death and his obsession and ego led him to create this creature “Franki Jr.”. Sadly he didn’t think about the consequences of his actions and he didn’t care about his “son”, he just abandoned and rejected him as if he was an old toy.

Franki Jr. just wanted to know who his family was - his roots, he wanted to be loved and accepted. Everybody wants that, everybody wants to be part of the world. On the one hand he had feelings like a human being. On the other hand as a result of discrimination, abandon and injustice Franki Jr. behaved as a monster killing all the people who Victor loved. That was his revenge. Clearly Franki Jr. was not guilty of having born without a family, without someone who tells him what things are bad or good. For that reason the guilty person in this case was Victor, he caused all his own problems.

This reading made me think that sometimes all of us feel like Franki Jr. when we feel that we don’t belong to certain places, when we don’t feel loved, when we are discriminated, when we are disappointed, when we are not accepted for our clothes, beliefs or attitudes….

Daffodils, by Wordsworth

Reading Wordworth’s poem I felt that I was gazing those daffodils and they were dancing around me and little by little I was part of them- part of nature. Absolutely nature is perfect, gorgeous and infinite and all of us are proud of its beauty. I think he admired nature and beauty and for that he took daffodils as a representation of nature magnificence.

This poem is like a photo .When we take a photo we capture an instant of our lives and we can be part of it every time we look at it. Clearly this poem represents an instant that Wordsworth lived and experienced and then he recalled and wrote about it.

The following stanza: “A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company" deals with the idea that when we contemplate nature, we are not alone, it illuminates our lives and we can be full of pleasure.

“When I have fears that I may cease to be” by John Keats

As a romantic poet, Keats dealt with nature, but he emphasized on human nature. Clearly fear is one of the most important aspects in human beings. All of us have felt fears in our lives and in my personal experience I have felt fears that frighten me; however I have never wanted to cease to be. After reading this poem I think he was very pessimistic about his life. And I realized that he felt fears about the rational world and love and not being remembered.
Having read his inscription on his tombstone, this reads: “Here lies one whose name was writ in water”, I could understand better his fear of not being remembered. He wrote that because when someone writes something in the water, it can’t endure for a long time. Nevertheless maybe he never thought that he will be always remembered for his poems and his inscription.

Kubla Khan or or A Vision in a dream ......

"It is essential to poetry that it should be simple, and appeal to the elements and primary laws of nature; that it should be sensuous, and by its imagery elicit truth at a flash; that it should be impassioned, and be able to move our feelings and awaken affection”.

What does this quote mean with simple? Should poems be simple in the way of appealing to our feelings? Are poems simple? In that part of the quote we can interpret as simple in the way of easy to read or to understand. For me the more challenging the poem is, the more think about it. I read many times Coleridge’s poem and every time I read it I gave different interpretations, I discussed it with my classmates and I realized that is not simple in that sense. So, what does this quote mean with that?

Another aspect that I found in this poem is that it is very affective due to the fact it is a representation of a dream and clearly it represents the human thoughts and feelings. It also appeals to our imagination, for the reason that the poem gives us the notion of a mystical place and through our imagination we can go there and we can be part of it. He used his imagination to create this beautiful poem, and we have to use it to go to that wonderful place.

To conclude, Kubla Khan has most of the elements that the quote refers, it is excellent to encourage our imagination.

The Little Black boy by Blake

The mother and Child
Pablo Picasso

How wonderful is when our mother kisses and hugs us. That instant is pure and natural and it is tangible because we can touch and see her and we can feel her love. We will never forget all the moments that we have lived with her.
That’s why I believe that when the little black boy recalled all the instants that he lived with his mother and all the things that she taught him were always in his mind and in his soul, and for that reason when he told his story, he played with the past and the present as they were always together.
Another important aspect is that the mother taught her son about the world and God through nature. For instance, when she said him “Look on the rising sun: there God does live..” she took an instant “ the rising sun” to explain him where God lives. So nature gives as the idea of eternity and divinity due to the fact that God, who is an intangible being, has created it.