Journal #3: The Wild Duck

I think that most of all and most obviously, Gina and Gregers are most at fault for everything that happened in the final act. Gina should not have let this lie go on for so long and should have been honest from the start. If she had told Hjalmar the truth about Hedvig from the beginning, this may have never happened. Gregers is also at fault because he had no business to get into this lie. He gave Hedvig the idea to kill the wild duck. He still thought that he was right even after she died, but that it hadn't ended the way it was supposed to. 


Hjalmar is partially to blame because he did not treat Hedvig with respect and love when she most needed it. He did not understand that although he did not create her, he was still her dad and he didn't act like a dad. He pushed her away when she most wanted to give him love. He took the responsibility for her death and blamed himself 100%. He said after they found her dead that he wanted to tell her how inexpressibly he loved her (215) but she died before he could tell her what she needed to hear from the start. 

Journal #2: The Wild Duck

With the motif of sickness, Ibsen is using illness to explain what happens when you are surrounded by lies. He ties in decay because that's what happens to you emotionally. When surrounded by lies, it is hard to know what is the truth. The sickness most common in the book is blindness in Hjalmar, Werle, and Hedvig. Their lives are mostly lies. Hedvig doesn't even know that Werle is her dad because she cannot "see" the lie she is living. Hjalmar doesn't "see", until Gregers makes it apparent that Hedvig isn't his daughter and Werle is supporting her with money by passing it off as his photography pay.

Journal #1: The Wild Duck

Option 2:
The first character that came to mind when I read that prompt was Gregers Werle. Gregers sees all of the different facades and lies that are going on in the story. He knew even when he was younger that Gina and Old Werle were having affairs and he knew immediately that Hedvig was not Hjalmar's child. He found the lies in people and decides that it is his duty to reveal all of the lies.
Another character that I saw creating false facades is Gina. She has lied about Hedvig her whole life and plans to keep it a secret. She does everything to keep the secret about Hedvig just that. A secret. When it starts to unravel she tries to cover the truth once again and keep Hjalmar in a quiet perfect world hidden from the scary truth.

Journal #3: Brave New World

By the end of the book there is a lot of criticism of The World State by John the Savage. He continues to bring up the absence of natural things like Religion, love, fear, emotions, art, etc. The criticisms highlight the  things that were abolished to make a perfect world. Art is a big thing in the savage land and there is no need for it in the world state because the only emotions they should feel is happiness and complex art will alter those mindsets.

The setting in the ending of the book is in the World State but it now has a different feeling to it. Now that John is in the World State and all of these criticisms are brought present, it feels like a different place. The contrast of this perfect world and the savage world  make a different mood of the story although it is still the same place.

The language in the last part of the book is similar to the first part while John still talks with an influence of shakespeare and the diction is still similar as it is throughout the book. But near the end when John kills himself, the language is used to highlight the fear and confusion of civilians in the World State and ends the book with them running in different directions because of their confusion.

Journal #2: Brave New World

The farther into the book I get, the more I notice things like Shakespeare. John has the complete collection of Shakespeare and uses the stories to explain things he finds in his life in the book. Shakespeare is not a big part of the book but as the story grows, John turns to it more and more.

The setting in this part of the book is very different from the first part. The book moves from the world state to the Reservation where the "savages" live. This change in setting also highlights the differences in our society that the savages live in and the "World State." The savage society has all the things that are important to us now that the world state had to give up to be a "utopia."

The Language Huxley uses in this part is important to understand the savages John and Linda. The flashbacks are used to explain their history so it is easier to understand where John comes from when he wants to go to the World State. This Language along with the use of Shakespeare by John make the differences of John, the reservation, and the World State more obvious.