Neuromancer- Author or Reader

Death of the Author by Roland Barthes explains the differences between an author and a reader of a piece of text. In Neuromancer, Case the dynamic character progressively changes through out the book from being an reader to an author. In other words he is becoming into a character that takes charge of his own life and is slowly breaking away from being a puppet. He is like a puppet because he is controlled by Armitage because Armitage implanted some toxic sacs in his system that does not allow him to get high. Case does not want to die so he listens to Armitage and follows his orders for the sake of his life." Armitage closed the door and crossed the room, to stand in front of Case. Your a lucky boy, Case. You should Thank me." " Should I? Case blew noisily on his coffee." The phrase that Armitge says which is " you should Thank me" gives him an arrogant tone and makes him seem if he is a God that did Case a favor. In this case, Case becomes a reader because he is given a lower position in the book. He is bossed around and has really no say in what he does or will do. Armitage is the creator, scripter and God like figure within Neuromancer that dictates what Case does. There are instances in the story where Case wants to break out of being a puppet or underdog. In part3 Case kills Julius Deane. This action shows Cases resistance towards Deane. Case declares," I guess I'm not in hurry. I guess it's your show. But all this shit, you know, it's getting kind of...old." The first sentence makes Case seem passive because he uses the word "guess" and makes him seem unsure about himself which gives him a quality of reader, rather than an author. He says the word "show" as if what Deane was doing is a show, a show where he is the director where he decided who does what and where everything goes, like a God. The second line shows his resistance towards Deane. He seems more sure with himself and it also shows that he does not want to be bossed around anymore. Case is going to explode at some point because he being oppressed.

Neuromancer - Molly

There is a female fictional cybernetic character within the novel "Neuromancer" by William Gibson named Molly. According to Donna Haraway a cyborg is a "cybernetic organism, a hybrid of machine and organism". In relationship to feminism, a cyborg is a construction of a women to further enhance her strength and mental capacity to establish equal opportunities for women in employment and in places that men are more dominant in. I wonder how it would be if Molly wasn't a cyborg? Would she even have a place within the group of men that she works with? Molly seems very intimidating to others and has a lot of knowledge that the men in the novel find very useful. Case describes her in chapter 4 and says, “She seemed continually on the verge of colliding with someone, but people melted out of her way, stepped sideways, made room”. She is mentioned throughout all of Part 2 which makes her a main character; therefore as a female she is given a role within the group of men. She reminds me of the character from the Terminator television show.

AMSND Act 5

Act 3 Scene 2 of illustrates the confusion between the Helena, Lysander, Hermia and Demetrius. Both of the men end up loving Helena and even want to fight for her. Hermia is confused and hurt because Lysander no longer loves her but this all gets resolved at the end. Act 5 functions as a comical relief because the group of men playing out the story of Pyramius and Thisbe. They turned a very tragic love story into a comedic romance because they are so horrible at acting. The story between Pyramius and Thisbe are very similar because in both stories the lovers end up killing each other. It is impossible to take the actors seriously because of their exaggerated voices and roles they have to play. Puck's ending states that the whole thing was just a dream, now to think of it it did sort of feel like a dream with Shakespeare's use of fairies, men transformed as donkeys, and the whole confusion with the problem between who loved who. AMSND is very compacted but it is beautifully written and is very funny, dramatic and enjoyable. This play takes satirical approach to explain that love is complicated.

A MidSummer Night's Dream

Natural or Supernatural?

In A Midsummer Night's Dream- weather- seems to be a topic with in the characters. AMSND suggests that the horrible weather is a result of supernatural forces that punishes humans when they do not behave correctly. The Annals of England by John Stow in 1580 is a collection of chronological events that keeps a record of the weather within one year period. John Stow suggests that the weather is caused by supernatural and natural reasons, since AMSND argues that it is done by supernatural reasons that is what'll be the focus. John Stow mentions that a women was killed because of she killed her husband, a girl was poisoned by a witch, and that the prices of certain goods rose because they committed sins and deserved it. He states," In this time of dearth and scarcity of victuals, at London, an hen's egg was sold for a penny or three eggs for pence at the most , a pound of sweet butter for 7 d. and so the life of fish or flesh, exceeding measure in price, such our sins deserving it". He brings in the act of committing sins which typically is used to describe supernatural forces like God, in order to punish the "bad" people in the world. Back in the days weather was correlated to the way humans behaved in society and to the wrath of God. AMSND Act 2 Scene 2 Titania speaks to Oberon about the weather conditions and alludes to many biblical events like the plague, crop failure and Gods wrath in general. She personifies the wind and states " To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind,/ But with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport./ Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have sucked up from the sea". The use of the world "revenge" makes the wind seem angry and creates a violent tone. We can conclude that Titania feels that there are supernatural forces controlling the weather. She also states " And this progeny of evils comes/From our debate, form our dissension. We are their parents and origins." In translation, Titania says that all the horrible events that have happened because of the bad weather is due to the actions of the humans, they are the parents to the "progeny of evils". She does not include any scientific explanations or data to support her claim, rather she explains that the weather is caused by the supernatural.

A MidSummer Night's Dream

Act 1

William Shakespear's play A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in Greece in the 1600's. He begins the play by introducing the conflict that sets the story in motion. Hermia's father Egeus wants her to marry a man named Demetrius but she is in love with Lysander.If she refuses to marry Demetrius her father claimed that she will be killed or sent to a nunnery. The dominance that the males have over Hermia and the fact that she has no say in this situation shows the patriarchal society this play is set in. Hermia is seen more like a position/property, rather than a human being. Hermia does resist towards her father's order, she states " So i will grow, live, so die, my lord,/Ere I will yield my virgin patent up..." (Act 1,scene1). This quote shows her opposition to her father when he told her she was going to be left alone and die a virgin if she did not marry Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander are left alone in the room and plan to run way to his aunties house so they can marry. This is a very risky task and I am only waiting to see if they get caught?! Drama. I believe this is wrong because she shouldn't have to marry someone she is not in love with. Isn't love the main ingredient to a true and happy marriage? In this play marriage is not really seen as a bond between two people that love each other. It is used in economic terms. The second scene presents the disorganized actors that set out to perform in Hermia's wedding. This scene has a very humorous tone because the actors seem to fool around most of the time.

"I , Too" by Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes wrote "I, Too" in the 1930's when black people were racially discriminated. I feel as if this poem empowers African Americans in that time to be proud of their skin color and say "I too, sing America", as if to mean that we are all human and we can all be part of of this nation no matter what our skin looks like. He explains in the poem that " They send him to the kitchen when company comes", I am assuming that "they" is referring to white people that try to push black people in the shadows.He responds to the situation with a positive attitude and does not let himself get put down by them. He says, " I laugh and eat well and grow strong". He has a very confident tone in this poem and works to show that you should never be ashamed of who you are and how you look. He feels like the white men want to make him feel ashamed of his dark skin color but he creates a humorous twist by saying " They'll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed". He makes it clear that he is not ashamed and that the white men should be ashamed of not being able to see how beautiful Langston is. Of course Langston is only being humorous and is just trying to prove a point that he is okay comfortable and confident with his dark complexion. He approaches this situation very lightly and in a very effective way.