Blog Entry 11

Denisha Fernandez

11 December 2013

ENG102

Final Exam

Supernatural

        Humans use supernatural creatures in literature to teach lessons. Typically supernatural creatures are feared are even worshipped, so often authors may use supernatural creatures in their literature to further engage them in the story. Over the course of the semester, in English class we have been reading supernatural stories that often deal with personal growth of the characters. The characters have to cross the threshold that connects the real world to the supernatural world for reasons that often make them grow at the end when they return to the real world. A book and film that this is best represented in would be “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman, andSpirited Away.

        “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman uses supernatural creatures within the story to make the lead character Coraline face trials so that she can build character. Coraline has to cross the border from the real world to the supernatural world to rescue her real parents from the supernatural world. Through this journey she grows as a person and learns to appreciate in the real world. An example of this would be how before the journey, Coraline hated her real fathers cooking because he was creative when it came to recipes. However when she returned from the supernatural world from rescuing her parents, she appreciated his cooking more than ever (page 75). Sometimes in order to get an important message through to a reader, authors will use supernatural things as an aid.

        The overall message from the book “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman was to appreciate what you have and don’t take it for granted. Coraline going through all the mess she went through within the other world, made her realize how precious everything in the world was and should be valued. The use of supernatural in literature makes the battle seem harder to go through, therefore makes the end result of the lead character getting  happiness more dramatic and appealing to a reader.

        Aside from the written word, movies often use stories filled with supernatural beings. Such as werewolves, ghosts, vampires, fairies, and even angels. The films will use the supernatural beings as blocks that the leader has to go through in order to achieve their goal. In the film Spirited Away the lead  character Chihiro and her parents cross a threshold into a supernatural world where there are dragons, gods, spirits, and dragons. Chihiro main purpose was to turn her parents back from pigs and get back to the human world, but learns along the way many things and therefore grows as an individual. Chihiro starts off in the beginning of the film as a whiny child that complains to her parents about moving, even though she was just ten years old, she matures in so many ways. When she first arrives to the spirit world, she is afraid. With the use of the task she has to perform and friends she makes along the way, it helps her mature.

The use of supernatural beings in films helps the person viewing it to see how hard it was to grow as a person because of the danger the supernatural being can pose to a normal human, yet they still overcome it.

        Humans continue to create supernatural literature because it proves the point that a human can overcome anything possible. They use supernatural beings as the ultimate battle a person has to get through and therefore shows the strength the human possesses. It also can be an aid to getting through an important lesson for people. Such as what “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman and the film Spirited Away does. It is all about lessons and teachings, supernatural within literature just help prove the lesson and why a person has to learn it in order to grow.

Blog Entry 8 (Midterm Rewrite)

Denisha Fernandez

ENG102

3 December  2013

Midterm Essay

    Facing death is inevitable for all humans. However, how one responds to it varies. Some people accept it and wither away peacefully. Others refuse to accept it and make the decision to fight to the very last breath. A poem that this idea is best represented in is “ Do Not go Gentle Into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. Thomas uses metaphors,similes, and symbolism to convey the message that no human, no matter what life path they have chosen,should accept deaths inevitability.

        Symbolism in “Do Not go Gentle Into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas helps create the speakers point of view towards death. Thomas writes “ do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at  close of day; rage, rage against the dying of the light”(lines 1-3). The speaker uses “night”(line 1) to symbolize  death, whereas as “light”(line 3) is a symbol for life. Night can also be a metaphor for death, being as though night is an inevitable part of the day just like death is an inevitable part of life.The speaker feels that one should fight against the ending of a life.

The speaker in the poem lists different men who have lived very different lives and tells them all the same, that they should fight death. For example, Thomas writes “good men, the last wave by, crying how bright”(line 7) and “wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight” (line 10) to show two different men who have chosen different ways to live life. But ends each stanza with “do not go gentle into that good night”  to show that no matter what life decisions you have made leading up to death, one should still fight against it. Even the wild men who have chose to soil wild oats rather than to live a meaningful life, and men who have had purposeful lives, they should still fight to the last breath.

    Similes also help show the speaker’s perspective of how someone should respond to death nearing. When Thomas compares how the “blind eyes”(line 14) could “blaze like meteors”(line 14), this helps reinforce how the speaker feels like a person should find the passion within and display an emotion  as powerful as a meteor. The “blind eyes”(line 14) can also symbolize something that is not of any use anymore, like a person whom is on the brink of dying. The speaker is telling them to renew their light and not give in to the darkness that is death.

     The poem begins to shift and become more personal when the speaker addresses their father. Thomas writes “ And you, my father, there on the sad height, curse me , bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night”(lines 16-18). The speaker is now begging their father to not go peacefully into death. Thomas writes  “curse me,bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray”(line 17) to show the speakers desperation.The speaker wants their father  to display  any emotion or to say anything to stay alive because to the speaker, accepting death is not an option.  

 Upon first reading, “Do Not go Gentle Into that Good Night” by Dylan Thomas, seems to be about different men whom are about to face death. The speaker lists men who lived very different lives and explains how they should respond to death. After a deeper analysis, the speaker uses the men to show that no matter what type of life one has lived, they should still fight against death. The personal touch by the speaker addressing their father, helped show how passionate the speaker felt about accepting death gracefully. Whether it was a peaceful, wild, or a full life, the speaker felt  a person should never bow down gracefully to death. They should go down kicking and screaming to their very last breath.