Part I:
The phrase "Knowledge is Power" is one of the most aged clichés out there. But like so many others, the cliché holds true for a reason. This is one of several themes addressed by D.H. Lawrence's 1915 Novel The Rainbow. In the novel, a woman living on a farm in rural England is fascinated by the intellect existing beyond the world she knows. In The Rainbow, D.H. Lawrence employs ironic juxtaposition and symbolism of nature and desire to underscore the paradox of the woman's ability to abandon her situation, but her inability to realize it. In this way, Lawrence highlights the woman's rebellious desire to learn of the world beyond the farm.
Most clearly in a reading of this novel, Lawrence frequently applies juxtaposition to highlight the nature of the woman through comparison to the men. The woman's negative view of her home situation is shown through her view of the men in her life, whose hands ironically create so much "warmth... pain and death." This ironic statement implies the woman's realization of the warm nurturing hands which sustain her, but in the end cause her a pain and grief that forces her to demand "another form of life than this." Paradoxically, though no indication is given to her confinements, she does not leave. People like the romanticized Vicar easily have "power over her husband," but she chooses to do nothing about her situation. In the end, her safety and comfort win over the fear of the unknown, as seen through the contrasting nature of the anaphora "it was enough" with the "pain and death" of her situation, highlighting a complacency despite the longing for something more. Through this, Lawrence implies that the work that the Brangwen men do was "enough" to keep the woman in her situation, despite her curiosity about "the active scope of man" and the knowledge laying just outside her reach.
Beyond this, the figurative language employed by Lawrence demonstrates the isolated, divergent nature of the woman in her paradoxical craving for knowledge. The woman, desireing something byond "blood-intimacy" wants to understand "the pulsing heat of creation. Through the use of Kenning in "blood-intimacy," Lawrence does two things. First, he draws imagery to the negativity and eventual death of the men. Second he shows that the woman does not want to conform to the nors of her ancestry. In this way, she is rebelling against a literal relationship with her bloodline and genetics through her unorthodox desire for knowledge. The pulsing heat of creating then refers to the intensely creative and "magic" realm of knowledge that people like the Vicar possess. Through this quote, Lawrence shows the woman as yearning for something out of her reach, something mystical and unknown to the earth she and the men know. What earies is her desire to know the world outside, opposing the Brangwen's tendency to face inwards, away from "the active scope of man." Through this figurative language of blood and creation, Lawrence establishes the dsire of the woman and her feelings of being out-of-place in her situation. Lawrence then presses the paradox through the Vicar, who has power over her husband, even while being "dark, dry, and small." This imagery paints the Vicar as insignificant, yet paradoxically huge in compariston to the woman's husband. This irony of power posits that though the woman should be able to take charge of the situation, she does not.
The paradox of knowledge is what makes The Rainbow so powerful. It shows that though we may long for something, outside factors all too often keep us from our true desires.
Part II:
Mohamed Elzarka was the individual to look over my AP essay. Upon conference, he said he would have given me a 5 on the essay, primarily because I did not explicate my arguments entirely through and that I used quotes slightly out of context. He also said that I should make my explanation more chronological, as my current one is very disjointed, although I believe it still gets the point across. Once, he also commented on my lack of impact. While I commend him for being as thorough as he was, I feel that compared to the essays we saw in class today, I would have given this essay a 7, Primarily because I enabled more than just a “plausible reading” of the text. I carefully controlled my thoughts and developed the thesis with decent effort, but was not overly sophisticated in my writing or analysis enough that would merit an 8 or 9. I think that after the norming today, Mohamed would agree with me, and this has highlighted to me the issue faced by graders and why norming is so important. Qualitative measures are much more difficult to make objective.
The phrase "Knowledge is Power" is one of the most aged clichés out there. But like so many others, the cliché holds true for a reason. This is one of several themes addressed by D.H. Lawrence's 1915 Novel The Rainbow. In the novel, a woman living on a farm in rural England is fascinated by the intellect existing beyond the world she knows. In The Rainbow, D.H. Lawrence employs ironic juxtaposition and symbolism of nature and desire to underscore the paradox of the woman's ability to abandon her situation, but her inability to realize it. In this way, Lawrence highlights the woman's rebellious desire to learn of the world beyond the farm.
Most clearly in a reading of this novel, Lawrence frequently applies juxtaposition to highlight the nature of the woman through comparison to the men. The woman's negative view of her home situation is shown through her view of the men in her life, whose hands ironically create so much "warmth... pain and death." This ironic statement implies the woman's realization of the warm nurturing hands which sustain her, but in the end cause her a pain and grief that forces her to demand "another form of life than this." Paradoxically, though no indication is given to her confinements, she does not leave. People like the romanticized Vicar easily have "power over her husband," but she chooses to do nothing about her situation. In the end, her safety and comfort win over the fear of the unknown, as seen through the contrasting nature of the anaphora "it was enough" with the "pain and death" of her situation, highlighting a complacency despite the longing for something more. Through this, Lawrence implies that the work that the Brangwen men do was "enough" to keep the woman in her situation, despite her curiosity about "the active scope of man" and the knowledge laying just outside her reach.
Beyond this, the figurative language employed by Lawrence demonstrates the isolated, divergent nature of the woman in her paradoxical craving for knowledge. The woman, desireing something byond "blood-intimacy" wants to understand "the pulsing heat of creation. Through the use of Kenning in "blood-intimacy," Lawrence does two things. First, he draws imagery to the negativity and eventual death of the men. Second he shows that the woman does not want to conform to the nors of her ancestry. In this way, she is rebelling against a literal relationship with her bloodline and genetics through her unorthodox desire for knowledge. The pulsing heat of creating then refers to the intensely creative and "magic" realm of knowledge that people like the Vicar possess. Through this quote, Lawrence shows the woman as yearning for something out of her reach, something mystical and unknown to the earth she and the men know. What earies is her desire to know the world outside, opposing the Brangwen's tendency to face inwards, away from "the active scope of man." Through this figurative language of blood and creation, Lawrence establishes the dsire of the woman and her feelings of being out-of-place in her situation. Lawrence then presses the paradox through the Vicar, who has power over her husband, even while being "dark, dry, and small." This imagery paints the Vicar as insignificant, yet paradoxically huge in compariston to the woman's husband. This irony of power posits that though the woman should be able to take charge of the situation, she does not.
The paradox of knowledge is what makes The Rainbow so powerful. It shows that though we may long for something, outside factors all too often keep us from our true desires.
Part II:
Mohamed Elzarka was the individual to look over my AP essay. Upon conference, he said he would have given me a 5 on the essay, primarily because I did not explicate my arguments entirely through and that I used quotes slightly out of context. He also said that I should make my explanation more chronological, as my current one is very disjointed, although I believe it still gets the point across. Once, he also commented on my lack of impact. While I commend him for being as thorough as he was, I feel that compared to the essays we saw in class today, I would have given this essay a 7, Primarily because I enabled more than just a “plausible reading” of the text. I carefully controlled my thoughts and developed the thesis with decent effort, but was not overly sophisticated in my writing or analysis enough that would merit an 8 or 9. I think that after the norming today, Mohamed would agree with me, and this has highlighted to me the issue faced by graders and why norming is so important. Qualitative measures are much more difficult to make objective.
Today in class, I learned a
great deal about D.H. Lawrence that I did not know while writing the essay.
While reading, I was convinced that Lawrence was either explicating the
diminished social role of women or commenting on the need for society to
modernize and face knowledge and “the active scope of man” (20-21). I mistakenly recognized blood-intimacy as
genetics rather than what Lawrence’s famous definition of Blood Intimacy truly
is, the notion that instinct trumps taught intellect often times. I also
recognized that there were several elements, which I missed in my reading of
the passage, including the importance of the metaphor relating to war and the
rhetorical question structure at the end of the piece that could have greatly
enhanced my analysis.
On this note, I could have
improved my analysis by utilizing the information on Lawrence. I would have
then recognized that blood and blood-intimacy to the author was not, in fact,
something to fear, but rather something to desire. With this knowledge, I would
have tweaked my thesis to address Lawrence’s irony that puts the woman desiring
escape from her situation, towards knowledge that ironically is less powerful
and less effective than her own instinct, or “blood-intimacy” (16). This
complexity is a much more accurate and skillful comprehension of the text that
far outdoes my shallow irony of the woman desiring something more, but not
doing anything about it. This in mind, I would also have better able to connect
Lawrence’s ties to Youngian psychology in identifying the ironic shadow of
knowledge in the form of the Vicar, who represents the dreaded intellect over
instinct.
Lastly, proper identification
of certain devices and strategies employed by Lawrence could have improved my
analysis. The rhetorical questions at the end, for example, would allow me to
further my analysis of the strife and discontent present within the mind of the
woman in question. The metaphor to war present around line 35 and the constant
repetitiveness of the words enough and strained would allow me to show the
monotony of her life juxtaposed with the “magic” of knowledge. I would also be
able to establish complacency through deeper analysis of the anaphora at the
beginning of the text. With more time and knowledge, I believe I might have
been able to better analyze the text through the scope of Lawrence. I only hope
that by the time the AP exam rolls around, I will be a lot more comfortable
with this.
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