Places and Settings in Neuromancer by Shruti Bhave

The novel begins in the Chatsubo, a bar in The Sprawl in Japan. Ratz is the bartender who is described as having a prosthetic arm. This bar is a little sketchy as it has call girls at every corner. It is where Case tends to go almost everyday to get a drink. From here, Gibson goes on to tell us that Case (the main character) had once been a cyberspace cowboy (a hacker) until he cheated his employers who poisoned him with a toxin, leaving him unable to hack into cyberspace.

The setting shifts again, as Case tells us how he met his girlfriend Linda Lee at an arcade. This place is described as being any other typical arcade except that it has more of a futuristic feel. Gibson's description of the different games is almost kind of eerie. He describes the enviornment as a blue haze of cigarette smoke where the holograms of the different games shed laser light on the people playing them. The arcade is also the place that Case uses to get rid of his follower but in that scene, its described as having a row of identical doors leading to office cubicles. This is a very different description of the arcade from the first one and makes the reader picture what it might really look like.

After visiting Deane, Case goes to a cheap hotel to rent a coffin, or a very small room. This room is also very unusual because the way Gibson describes it makes it seem like its a cold enviornment that does not have much to offer except strange gadgets. The depiction of the room is very technical with the mechanical bolts, his pocket computer, the fluorescence and the cooler of dry ice. The use of the word coffin to mean room is in itself very strange.

The last place that stood out to me was Sammi's, an arena where the entertainment is a knife fight to death. This is depicted as a dark and daunting place where there is a lot of bloodshed. It is where Linda gets killed. Once again, it is described as being futuristic with the fluorescent rings and the holograms.

The constant shift of setting makes the reader think about what exactly is being described: the past, present or the future? Gibson's choice of words and the names he gives each character are out of the ordinary, just like everything else is in cyberspace. His choice of words for everyday objects (like the coffin means a room) are so different that it keeps on reminding us that the story takes place in a completely different environment where the people can be programmed.

Chronology of Events in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Shruti Bhave

In Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", it is interesting to see how the chain of events are organized. The beginning of the story actually starts in the part II of the narrative where the reader finds out exactly why Farquhar was hanged. A soldier comes to Farquhar's house and asks for a drink of water, which his wife fetches for him. He tells Farquhar, a civilian that he could help the Confederate side of the army by burning down a bridge. Part II, the actual start of the story, is an interesting switch from Part I since it gives the reader answers on what exactly is happening and why its happening. Part II kind of puts a halt to what is happening in part I since it rewinds back to the beginning and tells us the actual chain of events.

Part I of the narrative actually happens after part II chronologically, even though part I is what the reader reads first. Part I describes the scene on the bridge where he is about to be hanged. Part I generates a sense of mystery since the reader does not know why he is being hanged. Part I begins at such a climactic part of the narrative, that the reader is immediately pulled in the story. Farquhar thinks of his family and decides to try and escape. By the end of the first part, the reader is told that he is released into the river. The same air of mystery is carried forward as the reader doesn't know if Farquhar's escape plan was a success by the end of the first part.

The reader does not know that Farquhar actually died within minutes of being released into the river until the very last sentence of the narrative in part III. The whole third part of the story is reveled to be only Farquhar's imagination before he died. He was never able to carry out his escape plan. This last part of the narrative is quite devious in the way that it confuses the readers and forces them to rethink reality versus imagination. This is the biggest switch in the story since before the last sentence, the reader is optimistic and keeps on believing that he escaped. The last sentence catches the reader off guard and is a kind of sad way to end a story.
Overall, the correct chain of events occur in part II, part I, then part III.

Poetry in Popular Culture

example 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QOeDa69AwE&feature=related

The Greek epic poem "The Odyssey" is parodied in the above Simpsons episode. It is the scene from the poem where Homer and his crew membors are on a boat and are nearing the three Sirens. In the clip, the Sirens are portrayed as three old women smoking cigarettes while in the play they are bird-like. The clip may act as a memory device to help one remember the actual scene portrayed in the poem so in that sense, it enhaces the text it appears in. This video is just one of the many examples in which "The Odyssey" is mentioned and it helps me see that poems do indeed have a place in popular culture.

example 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou-cIXdiX-Y&feature=related

This scene is from the movie Spiderman 2 where Peter Parker reads Mary Jane an excerpt from the poem "The Song of the Hiawatha" by the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Several lines of the poem parallel Peter's love for Mary Jane. In particular "Day by day he gazed upon her/Day by day he sighed with passion". Yes, this scene does help me appreciate poetry more and helps me see that even really old poems like this one can be used in popular movies today.

Anti or Pro-Technology?? by Shruti Bhave

The poem suggests an overall anti-technology view in the way that it portrays technology in a subtly negative way. Brautigan plays a trick on his words. Every stanza starts with the lines " I like to think..." followed by a hopeful statement in parenthesis suggesting that the status-quo with respect to technology is not exactly something beneficial to mankind. Brautigan would really like to think in a positive way about technology, but that's just not the reality as proven by the words "and the sooner the better". The words in parenthesis have a tone of desperation in them as if technology is actually being detrimental to humans.

In the third stanza, I feel like Brautigan is even mocking technology. It would disrupt daily routine if everything that man did with his hands was replaced by machines. The last two lines are very eerie to me. They suggest that technology is completely controlling man. it reminds me of the movie I Robot. In this sense, the poem is anti-technology.

The poem is very pro-technology. Lines 5-6 suggest that humans and technology can exist together in the same place and get along. The following simile compares this harmless relationship to "pure water touching clear sky". This is analogous to the perception of the ocean touching the sky on a beach. To me, this image gives a sense of serenity and control. Also in the first stanza, line three mentions a cybernetic meadow. The use of the word meadow suggests once again of tranquility and agreement.

Even in this rapidly progressing world, the poem suggests that not just man, but also nature can get along with technology. This is shown by the cybernetic forest and the deer gently passing through. The poem even compares computers to flowers, which are generally recognized as delicate, beautiful and harmless. The third stanza shows a positive view of technology in the way it says that man will have more time for nature and family since machines will take care of all the tedious work.

In my opinion, I think that the poem has an overall positive view of technology. Even though the first line of each stanza start with "I like to think..." , I feel like they are more optimistic for a better future than discouraging. The way the poem mentions the cybernetic meadow, forest, and ecology makes me think that the technology is benefiting growth rather than hindering it. Technology is allowing man to do spend time on other things like family and is making life easier.

"Design" by Robert Frost Image Analysis

List: white spider, white flower, white moth, satin cloth, witches' broth, paper kite, dead wings, paper kite, night, darkness

The three main images that stood out to me in Frost's poem were the spider, the moth and the flower. All three images in the poem are given the color white, which is usually associated with purity and innocence. In this poem however, all three white objects are in an ominous setting. It is ironic that the spider, which usually has evil connotations attached to it is the color of purity. It is also very odd that a spider, which is normally black or some other dark color, is white. The second line of the poem mentions a white heal-all, which is referring to a white flower that is camouflaging the white spider. This heal-all flower symbolizes the good things in the world. A white moth, thinking it would be concealed by the whiteness of the heal-all flower is killed by a strangely colored spider already hidden in that flower. The color of the spider disguises its malice, causing it to fool the innocent moth into its demise. Frost associates the flower and the moth to the ingredients of a witches' broth, but in the poem, the spider is the witch. This shows further signs of darkness and despair. But the poem makes one think: is the spider really at fault? Yes, it is trying to devour the moth, which is awful for the moth, but the spider is merely trying to survive . In the second strophe, Frost asks his readers how it was possible for each object to be at the same place at the same time. It stresses that the timing was just too perfect and that there has to be some other sort of outwardly design that caused this to happen. To me, this meant that both design and the designer have flaws. Everything is made for a purpose. One of the moth's purposes' is to feed the spider and that's just the order of life. The poem brings light to the hidden evils of the world, and if one is not careful, he/she may get caught. The scene of the spider eating a moth may seem very trivial to a human but even the smallest things in the world have their own design and story.