NRJ # 2- Home/Sense of Place or Belonging

NRJ # 2 Home/Sense of Place or Belonging

One of the many themes that Kazuo Ishiguro displayed in " Never Let Me Go" was a sense of home and sense of place and belonging.  Although the Hailsham students did not have a regular "home" or regular parents they way Hailsham was run was set up to create a sense of home and pride in Hailsham.  They did this by creating a hierarchy system in which the students stayed with their own peers throughout life till they became of age. Also the sales and the art gave them a sense of pride and created a sort of social hierarchy those  who were the most creative were the most popular.

   Kazuo brilliantly used the tone of the book to show how Kat was remembering her cherished times at Hailsham as she does this she begins to gain clarity on some of her childhood mysteries.  In one instance as Kat was reminiscing with a sense of nostalgia with Ruth  about  the exchanges she explains " it's all part of what made Hailsham so special, the way we were encouraged to value each other's work" (Ishiguro,17) which helped create a sense of home in Hailsham. 

Ishiguro used tone to support the theme of a sense home and belonging.  He did this by showing us that while Kat did not have a normal childhood by all means she still looked back on her memories with fondness and a sense of longing for those times.  He slowly develops the story giving us bits and pieces of the truth.  This also helps to solidify to the reader how it was possible  for Kat to still have these very normal feelings and an important part of being human. 

DRJ # 4 Acts 4 & 5

Drama Reading Journal # 4 Acts 4 & 5

   My initial reaction to acts 4 and 5 was excitement that the details of the play were coming to a head.  I was sad for Ophelia who took the death of her father so hard.  I was also shocked that after all that Gertrude learned from Hamlet in the previous act was all but forgotten.  She essentially decided to find Hamlet nothing but crazy which was very disappointing to me.

  

I decided to discuss Laertes.  We do not know a lot about Laertes except that his own father decided to spy on him in Paris as he suspected that he partied too much.  However, what I see from Laertes's actions is that he seems to be an honorable character who may be too concerned with what is seen as proper not necessarily what is proper.  He is definitely an antagonist to Hamlet as he wants to collect his just revenge against Hamlet for murdering his father.  However, in doing so Hamlet is able to find a way to slay Claudius.  So in a way Hamlet is able to fulfill his desire for revenge even though it was not accomplished in the way he originally desired.  They all ended up dying.  Later on Laertes realizes he was used by the King in his plots to get rid of Hamlet. 

   I think Acts 4 and 5 both displayed the theme of guilt and sin.  All of the sins and guilt play into the denouement of the plot.  There is a lot of sins being committed in these acts.  The first big one is the King Claudius ordering the King of England to kill Hamlet when he arrives in England.  Of course the next one is the suggestion that Ophelia committed suicide.  This would have been seen as a egregious sin against God in the Christian religion and all were shocked she was even given a Christian burial.  Claudius is full of sin in other ways.  He poisons his own son's beverage which accidently befalls his wife Gertrude.  Whether or not he feels guilty over it or not is debatable.  But, he is full of guilt in these acts.  He is guilty of prodding Laertes to duel and exact revenge from Hamlet.  He is guilty of plotting to kill Hamlet in two different accounts.  These two acts are a culmination of guilt and sin coming together for one last final dance.

DRJ # 3 Hamlet Act 3

DRJ # 3 Hamlet Act 3

My initial reaction to Act 3 was that it was one of the most intense acts.  Both Claudius and Gertrude feel the weight of their actions and with that comes immense guilt.  This is also where Hamlet makes his first kill.  This particular act doesn't remind me of anything in my life or in current media but it is ever so powerful. 

   I chose to talk about King Claudius.  He is definitely an antagonist to Hamlet.   Once Hamlet sees his father's ghost and suspects the truth of the ghost's accusations of foul play, Hamlet's life is forever changed.  He was already disgusted with the speed of the marriage and the fact that they were related if only by marriage.  Claudius I feel while a despicable character begins to feel immense guilt for his deeds.  We are not privy to know what type of person Claudius was before the murder.  Nor do we know what the Previous King Hamlet was like.  Was he a good person?  Was there a reason that drove him to the murder?  These are things we do not know about Claudius.  All we know is he killed his very own brother and then took his wife in a mere two months after the death.  These things sound like the deeds of a loathsome man.  I know if this happened to me I would be disgusted. 

   The theme I chose to discuss was ambition.  In act 3 this is where all Hamlet's ambitions or at least some of them come to fruition.  In this act he is able to have his play that he wrote the words and scenes for acted out in front of Claudius and his mother Gertrude in a ploy to gauge their guilt or innocence.  Because of his plan he was able to see  how King Claudius reacted to the very similar situation of his guilt and based on Claudius abrupt departure of the play Hamlet was able to confirm his suspicions of guilt in the murder of his father King Hamlet.  He was also finally able to have honest words with his mother in what he thought was private.  He tore into her character and her sense of goodness.  He then because of his ambition to see this thing through was able to discover that Polonius was acting as a spy for the King Claudius.  He was so angered and also needing to protect what he knew, killed Polonius.

DRJ # 2 Hamlet Act 2

DRJ #2 Hamlet Act 2

After reading Act 2 I felt very strongly that Hamlet's character reminded my very much of my ex-husband.  He had a very dysfunctional family all complete with intrigue and backstabbing and cheating all the crazy things this play encompasses.  My ex-husband became very crazy but extremely intelligent in his madness.  He would spew forth such dark sayings but they did have a sort of saneness and elegance to them.  He would over analyze every little detail driving himself to craziness. 

I decided to focus on Polonius this time.  I feel that Polonius's character serves as a foil to Hamlet.  We learn more about Hamlet's character and his relationships with Ophelia and Claudius and Gertrude through Polonius's actions.  Polonius does not fit the classic concept of  Aristotle's classic tragic hero.   I think Polonius is out to get Hamlet because he sees Hamlet as one who can do his daughter harm in that he could ruin her reputation.  Polonius in a conniving character who picks up on the fact that Claudius may be open to hearing about Hamlet's madness.  So when Polonius finds out that Hamlet is acting crazy he assumes it is over his daughter refusing his love advances.  Polonius is out to further himself in the new king's eyes as he is so sure of himself that he goes to the king with a love letter from Hamlet written to Ophelia.  When the king and queen question if really this love could cause him such madness Polonius then offers to set up Hamlet with his daughter and they can spy on him.  This shows just how far Polonius will go.

  I think one of Act 2's most prevalent theme's is deceit/deception.  There are various characters throughout this scene weaving their plots of deception.  We have the King Claudius and Queen Gertrude asking Guildenstern and Rosencrantz to spy on Hamlet and to cheer him up.  We have Polonius having Reynaldo spy on Laertes. Then we have Polonius outing Hamlet's love for Ophelia to the king and queen.  Then the three of them scheming together to spy on Hamlet to find out his true intentions and or feelings for Ophelia.  It is like a huge web of deceit between all of the characters'.  Then in the end Hamlet devises a plan to have the actors play a play that will be all to similar to the real life conditions of his uncle's deceit.  Shakespeare uses all these various subplots to interweave all the deceptions and lies to strengthen to plot and to strengthen to characters and their story lines.