The Berry Blog

James Joyce the author of the novel Ulysses had a strong passion for women in this novel. Although I only read the last paragraph of the novel it was still obvious to readers of the sense of strong, independent women characters in the novel. Molly the main character, has many similar characteristics to many women in our world today. She seems to be insecure in her relationship, she constantly is worried that he might not love her. But, she is mostly worried about why there is no sexual connection between the two. Molly, and her lover had a physical connection at one point, but she felt like she lost that connection after a day of making love.  I believe many young girls could relate to this part of the novel. Since Molly was fighting for his love, and wanted some answers for why there were no longer any sexual feelings. In our world today many young girls are losing their virginities at even younger ages now. Before they are mentally prepared to do so. This is creating a pr...

Mina Loy wrote a poem that many women during WWI could relate to. This poem not only talks about the strain the war had on relationships, but also how women were expected to take over the work that the men did to keep things running. Another major point in this poem is about how many women had to change their lives to fit into a different routine during WWI. The poem is called Songs to Joannes and it seemed to be more of a complex read. During WWI men were drafted into the war, meaning they had to leave their loved ones behind. Any man who was healthy enough over the age of eighteen was eligible to be in the draft. Back during WWI it was more common to get married at a younger age so many of the men entering the war were married. This meant that millions of men had to say goodbye to their wives to go fight for The United States in the war. Causing heartbreaks all over the country when a loved one had to leave, or were killed while fighting for the country. In the poem Mina Loy wrote...

After reading The Importance of Being Earnest I felt a bit confused, and needed to go back and reread different portions of it. The play itself is not a challenging read, but it was based in a different time period, with many religious views that I am not familiar with. When I first began reading it actually reminded me of some Disney Channel movies that I watched when I was younger. The conversations between Jack and Algernon were similar to the plot of some movies that young girls love to watch.  Jack came to propose to Gwendolen, and Algernon was against Jack on this idea. It was When Gwendolen accepted Jack’s proposal the two were told they cannot be together, and did not have the appropriate approval. The two of them were frustrated at this and wanted nothing more than to be together. I felt like this plot in the text was a plot that many movies try to use to show forbidden love. The characters in this play are looking for love in all the wrong places. The ...

After reading the topics for this week I found that Modern Love by George Meredith seemed to really entertain and interest me. The couple in the text seemed to be very unhappy in their marriage, but the couple made no effort to get a divorce. A reader can quickly tell there is something wrong with the couples marriage from the third line in the first sonnet. “The strange low sobs that shook their common bed,” both of them were just seeming to go through the motions. Neither of them had the guts to move forward with a divorce since at this time divorce was expensive. Another reason why many people did not get a divorce during this time was due to opinions of others.  Throughout the reading readers were exposed to mostly the man's view and his thoughts. He seemed to make different shifts through the sonnets. At some points he could be sympathetic to his wife, and other times it seemed like he was feeling bad for himself being in this position. In the seventeenth sonnet he say...

While reading various British texts this week I noticed a repeating sense of seriousness in most all of them. I found that “Mariana” and “Tears, Idle Tears” both written by Alfred Lord Tennyson had the same pattern throughout the text.  Both of these texts ended each paragraph with the same phrase. This could be a way readers can tell that some British texts are written by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Another similarity was the way that both of the texts dealt with death. Death was a very common theme shown in both texts. In “Mariana” the woman wished for death since she was so unhappy. And in the text “Tears, Idle Tears” it is about how someone is missing a loved one who passed away. I found this text to be relatable since I have had a loved one pass away. “Days that are no more” is repeated at the end of each paragraph in this text, and this is something most people can relate to if they lost someone. Nothing will ever be the same, and spending time with that certain loved one can ...

Welcome to The Berry Blog, I'm glad you are here. I am currently a college senior majoring in Middle Childhood Education with  a concentration in History and Language Arts. My liking for both of these subjects is one of the reasons why I wanted to create this blog. I created this blog for my own enjoyment, so please be respectful and refrain from any trolling, or ranting.