1. In Heart of Darkness, what does Kurtz represent to Marlow? Why does Marlow want to meet Kurtz? What does Marlow learn from his meeting with Kurtz?
2. Discuss Heart of Darkness as a quest narrative. In what way is this a journey into the self? What does it mean to enouncter the "heart of darkness?" How do the African people and landscape reflect Marlow's state of mind?
3. In the movie The Hours (adapted from Michael Cunningham's 1999 Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name), the lives of three women of different generations are interwoven with one another. Inspired by Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Cunningham creates characters whose characteristics and traits are drawn from the major characters in Mrs. Dalloway. Discuss the major characters in The Hours. How are they different from or similar with the characters in Mrs. Dalloway?
4. If one of the themes of Mrs. Dalloway is about guarding the privacy of one's soul against the violation of institutional violence (be it love in the form of normative marriage, religion, medical-psychiatric institutions, militarism, etc.), how is this theme explored in The Hours?
61 comments:
The similarities of Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours, both of them use flowers, holding the party, mentioning about bird. In the beginning of Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa is described as beautiful as a bird. In The Hours, the scene of the bird death, the scene of Virginia Woolf lies beside the dead bird. Two of the scenes make an echo for each other, although there are two different meanings of them.
Both of Clarissa have mental illness, struggle in the writing and her soul haunted by the memories. In the Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa falls in love with Sally Seton but in the end, lives with Richard Dalloway. In The Hours, Clarissa lives with Sally Lester in the end.
Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours, are use party to explore the inner mind in one’s soul. The fact is that each men is divided in many multiple parts, having complex feelings in the mind, remind of the memories are different. Both of them describe someone’s inner mind with amazing ways. In the book, the author use words to make the readers realize the inner mind of each characters. In the movie, the director use music, scenes etc. to touch the audience’s inner mind.
However, the most impressive scene is the beginning of The Hours, the river that Clarissa commits suicide by drowning herself. It remind of me that many famous and successful masterpieces mention to river, the flow of water, and etc. The symbols of them are the feminine.
41020A017 楊佳靜
Answer Q3.
In the movie, the three women live in different time and place, Laura Brown, who is a woman live in Los Angeles with her husband and son in 1950, she is a traditional woman, and she thinks that plays a good housewife role, takes good care her family is her duty and obligations. After she read Mrs. Dalloway, she has inspired the book, and change her outlook on life. Clarissa is different from Laura Brown; she is a woman who lives in New York city with her homosexual lover in 2000, she is independent, dare to love, and brave to quest her feeling, so she is called Mrs. Dalloway by her ex-boyfriend, but time makes her personality gradually disappear. Looking back at the past, she is quite dejected now. Those two women are affected by the novel’s writer Virginia Woolf, she is also very depression in her life, just like Mrs. Dalloway in her book, she eager to quest her dream, and wants privacy. She thinks that only fully deep in her writing world can express her real feeling and comfortable.
Like Virginia Woolf mentioned "To understand life what it is, and love it that way. Always look life in the face." This is the key sentence in this movie. Although their lives are very different, they still have same trouble about how to face their life. They both quest for free, eager to pursue the dream, and need privacy. They have their inner world which is they do not want to tell to anyone., just like Mrs. Dalloway. Although life is full of desperate and disappointed thing, and sometimes, we cannot choose our life, we still can try to pursue our dream. Above all, I think that is my thought about the movie and the novel.
41020A039 英美三 李季穎
I want to answer Q1
(1)What does Kurtz represent to Marlow?
Kurtz represent the word just exist only the bad things. The world is dark and despair. If people from the civilized world want to come back to nature, it is impossible. Nevertheless, the desperate thinking just come from his thinking which is polluted and not innocent.
(2)Why does Marlow want to meet Kurtz?
I think Marlow listen a lot of things related to Kurtz from the manager, the manager said Kurtz is a grisliness man and he handle the affairs so efficient. Marlow hears a lot of hypes surrounding Kurtz. And think he is a successful person. Therefore, he respect Kurtz before meeting him. A lot of people admire him, for example, The Russian boy, praise him so much even if Kurtz ever want to kill him. Consequently, he is curious that he want to see Kurtz himself and want to know why everybody likes him. On the other hand, I think there is some homosexual sign in the place because I think no one can let people have so lot curiosity. Just Marlow is fall in love in Kurtz. He want to meet him and know more thing related to Kurtz.
(3)
Marlow learn that civilization cannot come back to the nature which Kurtz teach him after Marlow meet Kurtz. It is so desperate and dark thinking I think. But Marlow also know why he can be admired by the Russian boy though he do many bad things because he talk some righteous comment even if he ever do that.
410202029 邱亮勳
Answer Q3
The compositional technique that both the novel and the movie use are very similar because they all depict the stream of consciousness and cavelike interiority to convey momentary sensations and connect present to the past in one day.
Although the skills they use is almost the same, the human consciousness of the beginning appears in the novel is different from the movie. In the book, Mrs. Dalloway's self-consciousness gallops in various memories at first when she wants to buy the flowers herself. In the movie, Virginia Woolf's self-consciousness penetrates the whole play through her thought and value system at first to affect other two women's life directly. Each major character in the book or the movie that their mind shift between present and past and interwoven one another to make whole plot very intriguing.
The issue of death is a very important element in the novel and the movie because it makes people to think about the meaning of death and the value of life. In the book, Septimus commits suicide because he does not want to others to destroy and invade his inner world. In The Hours, Richard wants to kill himself because he does not want to face the painful memories and his loneliness after he had AIDS. Although Septimus and Richard have different reason to kill themselves, both of them have the same identity-poet, and they also have a subtle relationship because Virginia Woolf had said that she would make the poet died in her novel. Therefore, it makes the book and the movie have another special connection.
The movie's skills and plots combine the novel with many kinds of aspect and elements and these make audience gain different feelings and imagination. Their similarities and differences all very unique and intriguing in readers' mind.
410185071幼教四 許馨文
Q1:
1.What does Kurtz represent to Marlow?
I think that Kurtz represents many kinds of characteristics to Marlow. First, Kurtz represents the dark side of humanity. In the novel, he shows businessmen’s greed and commercial psychology. In addition, his handwritten postscript: “Exterminate all the brutes!” also shows arrogant manner. He has no respect for the colony. Second, he represents his desire for power and wealth. He wants to rule over those primitive people races. Third, Kurtz represents his disloyalty to his fiancée, because he has a black mistress. However, this innocent fiancée still infatuatedly waits Kurtz to come back.
2.Why does Marlow want to meet Kurtz?
In my opinion, Marlow wants to meet Kurtz because of curiosity. It seems that everybody adores Kurtz very much, but Kurtz is just like a secret for Marlow. For this reason, Marlow wants to meet Kurtz and knows more about Kurtz. Besides, Marlow is obsessed with voices, so he wants to meet Kurtz for hearing his voice and talking with him. Unfortunately, Kurtz dies soon after they meet each other, so Marlow has no much time to hear Kurtz’s voice.
3.What does Marlow learn from his meeting with Kurtz?
Marlow could reflect himself from his meeting with Kurtz, and he understands that there is always darkness in everybody’s heart. (Nobody is completely wonderful.) Then, Marlow also knows “restraint” is very important thing for people. When I read the novel, I could know Marlow is saved because he could control himself. However, Kurtz becomes depraved because he lacks of restraint.
410202006 英美三 林禹彤
There are four major characters in The Hours, Virginia, Clarissa, Richard and Laura Brown. Somehow, they are similar with the characters in Mrs. Dalloway.
Virginia and his husband move to the country because of Virginia’s illness. Her husband sacrifices his life for the family. Virginia doesn’t want to live in the country not only because she loves the environment of London but also she wants set her husband free. Laura Brown, same as Virginia’s husband, she devotes her life to the family. Laura lives a good life with the hollow soul, and this is not what she wants. Laura once wanted to commit suicide, but she chooses to abandon her family and dwell in Canada to have a new live lastly. Richard who is Laura’s son is taken care by Clarissa. Richard seems himself as a burden. His situation limits Laura and Clarissa to have their own life. In the movie, Clarissa does everything for Richard. She buys the flowers, holds a party and goes to his house to visit him. At last, Richard chooses to commit suicide. His death loose the chain on his mother and Clarissa.
In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa is a woman with noble appearance but hollow in soul. She is alive but she lives like the dead. Septimus who is a retired solider. He has the mental illness because of a friend died in the war. Rezia is Septimus’s wife who accompanies with him selflessly. In the end of the story, Clarissa choose to live the vacuous life but Septimous choose the end his life. He believes that death is the relief. When facing some problems, some characters choose to die but some choose to live. Clarissa is similar to Laura, Septimus is similar to Richard and Clarissa in The Hours is similar to the character of Rezia.
410202056 英美三 林田珦儒
Answer Q3.
The four main characters in The Hours are, Laura Brown, Richard, Clarissa and Virginia.
First, I want to talk about Laura. Laura is a traditional lady, also a traditional wife. She lets her whole life and spirit to her family. But gradually, she found that this isn’t what her wants, so she tried to commit suicide once, but she finally chooses to run away from her family and live a new life in Canada by herself. And Clarissa is an independent woman, she fell in love with Richard, who is the abandon son of Laura. Clarissa takes care of Richard everyday, even sometimes Richard been so mean to her because he regarded himself as an useless person. When Richard’s life is going to the end, because of illness, Clarissa plans to hold a party from him, but Richard committed suicide before that party and jumped down from the window in front of Clarissa. Laura and Clarissa both been influence by Richard deeply. And about Virginia, she had illness and her husband choose to live their life in country because of that. But Virginia wants to live in London and she wants to run away from her husband so that they both will have a happier life.
And in Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus and Rezia is husband and wife. Septimus has a very unhealthy mind because when he retired from the army, his friend died. And Rezia, she lived very unhappy next to Septimus, but in the end, Septimus committed suicide. And the other main character, Clarissa, choose to live her life, although her life is lack of goals.
The main characters in The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway, they all have some problems with life. But the point about whether to live or not, they have some similarities and different like what I mentioned above.
英美三 410202074 賴祖兒
Q3
Upon watching The Hours, we would discover several similarities with the characters between the movie and Mrs. Dalloway. First, the characteristics and stories in New York in 2001 share similarities with characters in Mrs. Dalloway. Clarissa, like the Clarissa in the novel, is independent and strong, and sometimes recalls the memories of romance in the past. Next, Richard, Clarissa’s ex-lover, shares similarity with Septimus, because they jump out the window to kill themselves for there’s no longer any hope for them to live. Richard also resembles Peter because they're both stuck with the memories of loving Clarissa. Finally, Louis somehow resembles Peter for they both come back from other places, and seems easily falling in love with women.
In the part in LA in 1951, although the characters and scenario aren’t like those in Mrs. Dalloway, they are somehow similar with the novel. Laura Brown, a housewife with a seemingly happy family, isn’t happy with being stuck and forced to do the things she actually doesn’t want to do. As a housewife, Laura is considered that she needs to take care of her family, and all her duties are those things, nothing else. All her values are restricted to this family which she is not actually happy in. Laura somehow resembles Mrs. Dalloway for they both already abandoned and even forgot what their souls are like.
Finally, in the years of Virginia Woolf, it not only describes the background of the author of Mrs. Dalloway, but a woman who's feeling stuck and soul being stolen. Virginia has a wonderful husband, but she is not happy and free. She desires to completely be herself and have complete freedom, but she seems not capable of these things. The women in three different eras are all desperate to find their souls and protect them from being stolen.
英美二 410302020 簡嘉俞
There are lots of similarities between Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours, such as using the image of water, flower, bird, party, and kiss to make connections to each other. Especially, the resemblances shared by the major characters in these two materials are very obvious and worthy of pondering on the author’s intention of doing so.
In the movie, Clarissa is like Rezia in the novel, taking good care of Richard and continuous visits him with flowers, which symbolizes implied love. The action of buying flowers for Richard is similar to what Richard does for Clarissa after his lunch appointment in the novel. And, in the beginning of the movie, she goes to the flower shop to buy some flowers to hold a party as Clarissa in the novel does. The biggest difference is Clarissa’s spouse isn’t Richard as the novel depicted. Instead, she has lived with Sally for ten years. However, the one who you don’t or can’t have makes you desire to own him or her more. Like Clarissa in the novel does, Clarissa in the movie also has the fantasy about what if I have been with him, revealing that she isn’t really satisfied with what she has now.
Then Richard is like Septimus in the novel, suffering from illness and ultimately decides to commit suicide by jumping down from the window. Besides, he is similar to Peter in the novel. He shares some of the past memories with Clarissa- the walk beside the lake. Yet, there is one difference. One is a poet, diagnosed with AIDS, the other is a retired soldier, suffering from PTSD.
And Virginia in the movie is the reflection of Septimus. They both hate their doctors who keep saying that they’re seriously ill and want to deprive their physical freedom and free will. They sense the possibility of the loss of the private of their soul, which represents the invaluable and precious core in human’s mind to them, so they want to find a way out- the decision of committing suicide. The difference lies in the methods they use. One chooses to drown herself twice yet fails, while the other eventually determines to jump from the window and succeeds. And the action of Virginia kissing her sister, directly connects to the ambiguous homosexuality in her literary works.
In addition, Laura in the movie is like Clarissa, having fine life but hollow soul. As a hostess of the whole family, she tries to play her role well, having a party for her husband during his birthday. However, she finds her inner paradox when Kitty, one of her friends, visits her. She has ambivalent feelings toward her, so she can’t help but kiss her like Sally does to Clarissa in the novel. She begins to be panic, trying to escape from the responsibility for looking after her spouse and kid. She decides to kill herself in the hotel room by taking sleeping pills after reading few pages of Mrs. Dalloway. However, she hesitates to commit suicide due to her delusion of submerged by the water. The sound of wave relates to the depictions in the novel, relevant to the way Virginia choosing to die.
Asides from the main characters, I also find that Louis is quite similar to Peter in the novel. They both leave their hometown, beginning a new life and fall in love with young girls while they’re at other cities. Actually, we can always find some similar elements applying in different types of materials, trying to convey some relevant ideas and messages. So do these two masterpieces. Exploring the connections made between different literary works not only makes reading literature more interesting but also has us to rethink about the meanings that the authors wants to convey. Whoever you are should own a private room in your mind to keep the secrets, memories, idealism which is equal to non-corrupted dream, and imaginations which different from the current situations. Therefore, I think the most important value shared by these two stories is the private of the soul.
410285026 英美三 李靜潔
i want to answer question one.
I think in the heart of darkness, Kurtz is an ideal for Marlow. From my opinion, I think Kurtz like Henry always corrupt people. Marlow still gets interesting about Kurtz. Before Marlow gets a chance to meet Kurtz, all the people he encounters telling how marvelous Kurtz is. The Brick man even tells that soon or late Kurtz will become manger in the central station. Marlow also wonders what kinds of marvelous people can survive in this dark place. What kinds of people make the manger too afraid of that he even breaks the steam ship, just for stop people to look after him? When he meets Russian, his curiosity becomes stronger and stronger.
But all of the fancy vanish after they finally meet at the station. Kurtz makes his desires totally devour him. The ideal fancy broke, but the fancy about Kurtz still exist. Even though Kurtz methods ruin the district Marlow still consider his good side, not like Manger.
Marlow gains experience from this. Without Kurtz’s experience, Marlow may become an aggressive person who only wants ivory, wealth. Marlow can know when wealth around, his conscious still need to stay alert. He cannot follow the temptation. That is what he gains from Kurtz’s example. Kurtz example set the last conscious boundary for Marlow. Stay in the darkness place on the earth, Marlow still needs to know the path. I think that is the reason why when he meets with Kurtz’s finance he chooses lie to protect her. So he changes Kurtz last words into her name, still protect Kurtz’s image in his heart.
英美三 李亞儒 410202041
Q3
There are three main characters I have deeply impressions.
The first main character is Virginia Woolf. She is a writer but she suffers from the mental disorder. She is repressed by her husband and took her to the country side. In this movie, we can see the homosexuality of her, and she cannot tell anyone that secret love and at the same time, she is depressive of anything. I think that she cannot endure the repression from all walks of life, so she decides to commit suicide and over her life because she wants to escape from this society and the world.
The second one is Laura. She is very sick of the life which she has to play the role of house angel and adapt to expect of society. She also wants to commit suicide, but she cannot set her mind at ease to her child. So she is back. But later she abandons her family and goes to Canada and to pursuit her dream and her life which she desires. But her husband does not know what wife thinks. By the way, she is also a homosexual in the movie.
The third one is Clarissa. She is a woman who put the focus on her ex-boyfriend, Richard and wants to hold the party for him. She ignores her daughter and her friend. But latter Richard commits suicide in front of Clarissa. Clarissa is a woman who always lives for others and she cannot live alone. I think that after Richard is dead, she has to learn how to live by herself only. Everyone is independent, so we have to make ourselves worth and live out the value.
The movie is different from the novel, but Clarissa’s life is like Mrs. Dalloway of novel.
410202042 英美三 康如儀
Question3
In The Hours, Clarrisa Vaughan who likes Clarrisa Dalloway is going to buy flowers by herself for the party which is for Richard Brown, Clarrisa’s closet friend. The big difference is Clarrisa lives with Selly because the background time is in 2000 in New York. At that time, sexual orientation is freer than before. People can love what you love in public. Conversely, in Mrs. Dalloway, Clarrisa and Sally only love with each other secretly. Their love is not permitted and may be will blamed by the public. Laura Brown, who lives in 1949 Los Angeles, is similar with Clarrisa Dalloway. She has some homosexual traits, for example, she kisses Kitty who is her neighbor. Laura is suffering about her life now because she is oppressive. After Laura reads Mrs. Dalloway, she wants to commit a suicide by take a lot of pills. However, in the end, she did not because she reminds her husband and her cute son, Richie. And then, she cries loudly suddenly. Laura leads a life which is not what she wants, so she is painful about her family life. Finally, Laura left her husband and her son to Canada to lives a new life, and her mind and soul also become free. Virginia Woolf is similar with Septimus Warren Smith. Both of them have the mental illness. Virginia suffers from headaches and some unknown voices. And she thinks a lot about her new book, Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia also thinks about the death. In the end, she cannot bear her illness and commits a suicide. The Hours successfully respects for those characters in Mrs. Dalloway.
410213005 英美三 張鈺翎
Question 1
In Heart of Darkness, Marlow is a narrator who experienced this dark trade into Africa. When Marlow tells this story, it shows his adoration to Kurtz gradually. In the beginning of the journey, Marlow has even known nothing about Kurtz. He only gets Kurtz’s information from others’ perspectives so as to putting together of Kurtz’s impression by his own. As time goes by, Marlow has been more curious about Kurtz who is such a successful man and how he will set about his work when there. That is the reason why Marlow makes his decision to go into the heart of darkness to meet Kurtz because he wants to know how magical Kurtz is in order to let everyone in the jungle so admired him and Marlow himself is no exception.
Then when Marlow sees Kurtz’s pamphlet, somehow Kurtz’s eloquence represents the vivid image of civilized man to Marlow. Moreover, his pamphlet shows the idea of imperialism. Here is a gap which appearing between Kurtz’s early advocacy of the imperialist power for good and his concluding words.
Kurtz has so strong charisma that everyone wants to work with him voluntarily. However, Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts. He wants to rob more and more goods from nature. In my opinion, perhaps without civilization, without these white robbers, there will be more peaceful because the origins can live on their own by their own way.
In the end of Marlow’s memory, it mentions that Marlow sits in the pose of a meditating Buddha. It refers that Marlow has learned how dark of humanity is and he realizes supreme moment of complete knowledge to his life.
410202043 英美三 李勁霖
(This is an answer for Q3)
I always remember the beginning of The Hours, when Virginia chose to end her life, it is a sunny day. The last scene she saw is a bridge that many people and cars passed by and the stream still flushed.
“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” A beginning of the two totally different stories, The Hours become an opposite version of story. Clarissa lives with her love, Sally and Richard becomes a hybrid of Peter and Septimus. It becomes a “what if Clarissa has a chance to choose her love?” story and it makes the readers wonder – if Virginia Woolf writes the story Mrs Dalloway in modern days, will the story similar to The Hours? Still, some of the character have not change their characteristic in The Hours. Clarissa is still the same character in the both story, she has passions of her dreams – literature, news and even bohemia styles. But one of the most interested part is when “Mrs Dalloway” read Mrs Dalloway in the story. The thoughts stream of Clarissa makes herself wondering and having flashbacks of her life. She remembers what happened to Richard and her in the summer house when they were young. Why is “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself?” Because she is having a party for a reason – One is for inviting old friends and the other is celebrating Richard’s prize. The party seems to be an unhappy and sentimental party in both novels because of the accident of someone’s death. But I think the deaths in both stories make both Clarissa understand something and makes the day becomes a unique day in their life.
410202049 英美三 張韵妤
There are three major women characters in The Hour. Clarissa, Laura, and Virginia. And their lives are so different but somehow similar and connected to each other. Virginia is the author of Mrs. Dalloway, and Laura is the reader of her, Clarissa is the character whose life seems almost echoing the life of Mrs. Dalloway. Laura Brown, as a typical housewife of America society in the 1950’s. She was reading Virginia’s novel, Mrs. Dalloway. While reading the novel, Laura found the reflection of herself in the book. She started to suspect her current lifestyle. Then she chose the life that is to run away from her family. Laura’s life seems similar to Virginia’s. Both of them are running in empty and feel hopeless from their present life and like Mrs. Dalloway, their husbands may not understand them deeply and clearly. So they made decisions to change these futile and drowning situations. One is to end her life, the other is to run away. And Clarissa‘s life seems to be fine but actually she is not. Richard always had been her main part in life. Taking care of him is the vital thing and the only thing that could make herself feeling alive. Somehow she was also having a drowning life. And like Mrs. Dalloway, she is always recalling her past happy memories to makes herself feel better and also makes herself having the hope for the future happiness. These three characters are so different from each other but at the same time they are so similar to each other.
410102040 英美四 林欣慈 Q1
As Marlow’s journey goes deeper into the Congo River, readers gradually begin a voyage to the earliest beginning of life, when civilization does not exist. There is cruel, bloody exploitation wrapped behind the so-called “civilization.” Kurtz is an over-reaching figure, who does not know that wilderness nibbles away at his own identity.
Out of curiosity and self-fulfillment, Marlow begins his adventure into the primitive area. As his journey goes on, he gets information about Kurtz indirectly; Marlow learns that he is respected as a super god. He becomes obsessed with Kurtz, and is eagerly to know how this powerful man uses his personal charisma controlling those native people. With his lofty words and weapons, Kurtz eliminates the voices of rebels, and does whatever he wants in the exiled world.
As Marlow goes deeper into the jungle, he witnesses more and more unspeakable truth. European colonists rob the valuable resources there greedily, enslaving black people to make fortune. Without moral restraint, the dark side of humanity is pull from their souls. When Marlow finally meets Kurtz, his fascination breaks down. Kurtz is not a deity-like person, but a man who is hollow at the core. After years of solitude in the wilderness, Kurtz is swallowed by his lusts and loses his identity.
At the end of the story, Marlow’s figure is depicted as Buddha, which is totally against greediness. He gets some wisdom after this ghastly adventure. He realizes the hidden truth of all imperialists. There is no torch of civilization, but never-ending exploitation. In short, Marlow conquers seduction of the wilderness, and preserves his own soul successfully.
民發三 410297071 楊雅婷
Question3
The major characters in The Hours are Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown, and Clarissa. The only same character is Clarissa, but the role is very different between the movie and the novel. The other two don’t appear in Mrs. Dalloway.
First, Virginia Woolf was the author who wrote Mrs. Dalloway. She had metal ill and her husband supported her when she wanted the privacy space and went to London. At the end, she committed suicide like Clarrisa’s husband, Richard, who is also metal ill in her novel. Richard was the character Septimus in the Mrs. Dalloway. Before she drowned herself in a river, she wrote a letter to her husband. The words of the letter were the same as the scrip that Richard jumped out off the widow.「I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been.」This sentence was the last word of Richard and Virginia. Both of them lived for their lover.
Second, Laura Brown was a traditional house wife who read Mrs. Dalloway and feel inspire from it. She wanted to drop her son who would become Richard latter and husband, because she was tired of routine and be an “accepted” role of mother. This was the same in the novel that Clarrisa had the same feeling like Laura. She ate the medicines to commit suicide but did not success. In The Hours, she dreamed herself drowning. I think it foretasted the ending of Virginia suicide. This character had some common to the novel. She kissed her friend while Clarrisa kissed her friend Sally in the novel. Both of them were homosexual, but they stocked in the social value (at that time, the same love was not accepted) At the end, she went to Canada to live what she really wanted, though everyone spurned her. I think her choice was the dream of Virginia and Clarissa. She was the character who helped them to do what they can’t do.
Last, Clarissa is the major character that is the same in the novel. She held the party at night, so she went to buy flowers herself. Everyone thought she can deal with all things but she didn’t. This plot was also in the novel. She lived together with Sally which is totally different from the novel that they both had their own family even they had loved each other. There old lover was Peter who went back from India and went to her house unexpected. In The Hours, her husband is Richard which is Septimus in the novel. In the novel, her husband was Richard Dalloway who was a traditional English.
英美三 賴璟毅
410202022
Answer to Question 1
Marlow's feelings for Kurtz change greatly over the story. At the beginning Marlow admires and respects Kurtz for his accomplishments, He believes that Kurtz is benevolent. His attraction and obsession of Kurtz are related to the mysterious center of Africa. Also, the two are linked by common European heritage, and Marlow is fascinated by Kurtz's story and his ideals of colonialism. Marlow ends up obsessing with Kurtz’s voice. He just wants to hear him talk. Furthermore, the reason why Marlow wants to meet Kurtz maybe because he's homosexual, for here are homoerotic themes in the story. As Marlow enters deeper into Congo and he hears more story of how Kurtz has achieved his accomplishments, his obsession grows stronger. He is so curious about Kurtz. However, when Marlow approaches the inner station, he starts questioning his own admiration and respect for Kurtz. Up to this point, with the knowledge that Kurtz is corrupted, Marlow is no longer thinking about rescuing Kurtz, but he wants to understand Kurtz desperately. Finally, Marlow knows that Kurtz is flawed, once they are face to face, Marlow's respect of Kurtz is replaced by fear because of what the man represents and the evil that he displays. However, Marlow has the dedication to Kurtz. He remains dedicated to Kurtz because he believes in Kurtz. As his last words were "the horror," this make Marlow finally understand the truth of European colonization in Africa. Marlow finds out how and why Kurtz was "remarkable" eventually. Though he knows that Kurtz was far from perfect in reality, he is still filled with admiration of him.
林儀濃/英美四/49802075
Answering Q4:
The movie depicts Laura as a married woman who feels desperately suffocating pretending to be an understanding wife by the presence of her loving and caring husband. Laura is preoccupied with her thinking about escaping from her marriage. Especially when her husband has gone to work, her son always plays by himself while Laura is making her husband’s birthday cake. We can see that Laura does not care about the cake or her son, because everything as being a wife and a mother stifles her soul. The only way that her soul can have connection is by reading Mrs Dalloway. Laura represents the typical image of perfect wife and mother that the society favors－a domesticated woman－which is actually a victim that leaves few choices for her to control her life. The choices are so limited even leads Laura trying to commit suicide. Finally, Laura gives up her family and marriage that stifle her and limit her life for saving her soul out of dreary domestic life.
While Laura is trying to get herself out of the marriage, Virginia is facing the limited choice in her life as well. However, it is because her mental conditions that made them moving to countryside follow by the doctor’s instruction. Virginia is trapped by Leonard’s careful consideration, following the routine that doctor says, but the tangling mental problems cannot be solved simply by doing those instructions. That is why Virginia drown herself to death when she knows she cannot hold herself as a complete piece as human being. In my opinion, Virginia commits suicide for saving her soul that she knows it will be broken.
410102036 英美四 林太乙 Q2
In the Heart of Darkness, stream, woods, river, and the air represent the subconsciousness of human which is a hidden and secret part existed in depth. Once human beings get into an unfamiliar area, all values seem to face a challenge of deconstruction. It is a journey into the self which begins with external stimulation and fluctuation in internal follows after then.
Joseph Conrad describes scenery of Congo River vividly in every different angle using literary technique of personification in order to bring out the complicated psychological changes of characters. Ancient African continent is named by the color of the natives which is a dark, treacherous world far divorced from the normal that characters’ understandings. Environment is changed, and people are changed, too. The primitive wilderness seems to be a liberation district for human’s evil nature. Men’s instinct is awaken by the call of the unknown darkness of jungle.
Marlow goes through the intense adventure of mentality in the fancy-like scenery. Marlow realizes that his soul floats on the current of uncertainty as if it breaks away from his body. The whole river basin is a symbolic life of Marlow passing along slowly to mystery of an unknown. Marlow’s curiosity is arisen from the development of the story of Kurtz just like the other people who chase for fortune and glory but in different intention. In the process of exploration, Marlow starts to have mysterious connection with Kurtz who is a symbol of insoluble power of Africa. Marlow tries to find out the answer whether it is possible for the civilized to survive in the wilderness and make the dream of inner achievement about life, death, power, and desire come true.
410202040 英美三 邱奕瑄
Answer to Question 3
The Hours combines the three different women of different generations. Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown, and Clarissa Vaughan, the three of them all under a lot of pressure and have to face their lessons of lives, to change their situations or to end up their lives is their final decisions. Laura Brown is one that chooses to live on. While she seems to be a selfish woman that does the worst thing as a mother, nobody understands her pressure deep in her mind, even the one whom loves her the most.
Mrs. Brown’s husband is nice beyond doubt, but he does not know what Mrs. Brown thinks inwardly, and so do Virginia Woolf’s husband in The Hours and Richard Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway. They can give a complete and stable family that need not to worry about the material life, but they are limited to be a wonderful companion because they cannot share responsibility for pressure and worry deep inside. Gradually, the thoughts, personalities, and sentiments can only stick in mind. They just think that they are doing and giving what are good for their wives. Finally, the heart is closed to outside and life is withered. I can see the struggles and tortures of Mrs. Brown when she spends one afternoon staying in the hotel in The Hours, and suddenly I know how suffering she is to always pretend that she is fine, which is the same as Virginia Woolf in The Hours and Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway. On one hand, no one knows and can relieve their pain. On the other hand, even under a lot of pressure, they still need to pretend that everything is okay.
Besides, Richard, Laura Brown’s son, the one that connects Clarissa with Mrs. Brown in The Hours. It is not so surprised to see the innocent and pure Richie becomes the sentimental, pale, and sickly Richard to me. His life is filled with pressure since he is very little. Because of his mother’s leave, he is scared of whom he loves may leave at any time, just as Rezia is afraid of losing her husband in Mrs. Dalloway. Both of them cannot accept the truth to separate from their love. In addition, the one who loves Richard deeply in The Hours, Clarissa, who seems to be a strong and brave woman, but she cannot get rid of some kind of eagerness from beginning to end, which is likely to Septimus’s eagerness of his own soul to some extent in Mrs. Dalloway.
The three different backgrounds’ main characters all give up something due to the pressure and responsibility which are given from the society in The Hours. In my opinion, their destinies are stringed together in an ironic way. The characters in Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours make their own decisions about the meaning of being alive, some choose to live on lingering their pain while some are faithful to their souls ending up their lives, which also make me think of the meaning of my life, as the sentence which Mrs. Woolf says to her husband in The Hours, “Someone has to die so the rest of us can value life more.”
410301022中文二 俞亭安
Question1:
Marlow as a narrator in "Heart of darkness" who uses his on perspective to tell his story, this framing technique makes readers deeply believe in his testimony in this journey. During his adventure to Africa, Marlow's mission is to rescue Kurtz, a mysterious man. Marlow knows nothing about him, but the whole fleet and the people he meets keep telling him about Kurtz's information and visualization, this strengthen Marlow's curiosity toward Kurtz. To Marlow, Kurtz is an ideal leader who has strong personal charisma and famous for his eloquence, these characteristics make his followers be loyal to him, they think that he's going to bring the light of civilization into the heart of darkness, and his action could lead the people in Africa out of barbarism, but actually his purpose is to "exterminate all the brutes!"
Before knowing such evil intention of Kurtz, Marlow even has intense fascination to him which might indicates homoeroticism. In my opinion, Marlow is an epitome of hero who undergoes a journey that makes him become wiser, when he comes back from the itinerant adventure, he knows that Kurtz is a represent of imperialism which pretends to bring civilization to Africa, bot actually wants to loot everything from Africa, from nature. More over, from the quote that Marlow said: " And this also, has been one of the dark places of the earth." We can see that Marlow learns that London is the true evil center of empire.
英美四 王潔安410102010
Answer to Q4:
The Hours is a story inspired by Mrs. Dalloway, thus it shows similar themes and even similar characters. One of the themes The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway share is the guarding of souls against so called “social norms.” The Hours consists of three stories in three different years, and these three years each has death as an element to demonstrate the break free of the institutional constraints.
The story begins with Virginia Woolf, the author of Mrs. Dalloway, drowns herself in the river. Woolf has suffered from several nervous breakdowns before her suicide, and because of that she is forced to live in the countryside for rest cure, away from her beloved London. Unable to live the life she yearns for, Woolf kills herself to guard her soul from the detestable violence.
In the second part of the story, Laura Brown is trapped in all the traditional social norms. She is a wife, a mother, and a full-time housewife. However, Laura Brown is tortured by these identities, and she wants to end her life in order to make an escape. Although she gives up on killing herself in the end, the decision she makes demonstrates how Laura wants to protect her true self.
Laura Brown’s son, Richard, appears as an AIDS patient in the last part of the story. Richard is confined in a small apartment, and has been experiencing all kinds of physical and mental pains ever since his illness. Richard has the eyes and mind of an artist, and living in illness is not beautiful nor graceful at all. In the end Richard jumps off the window in ecstasy because he has guarded his beautiful soul.
The three stories all demonstrate how death can guard one’s soul against the institutional violence, and is explored in The Hours.
英美三 410202075 李家欣
[Answer question 3]
The film is about one day of three women, Clarissa, Laura and Virginia. From only one day, we can know that all of their souls are incomplete. Clarissa’s day begins with buying flower alone and preparing for the party, which is similar to the novel. They have the similar characteristics, too. Both of them are independent and haunted by the ex-lover, Richard in the movie and Peter in the book. Both of them are stuck with the romances, which makes their lives incomplete. They reminisce the relationships with ex-lover and take them as the most precious memory in life. Also, the relationship with Sally is quite similar, too. Clarissa used to have a kiss with Sally and attracted by her without realizing the special feeling; and in the film, Clarissa has a relationship with Sally for already ten years long. But the difference is they live in different lives. Clarissa in the novel chooses to marry a man who seems more reliable and simple and gave birth to a girl. On the other hand, Clarissa in the film chooses to live with Sally, takes care of her ex-lover and adopts a girl as her daughter.
About Laura, I think she is the character which comes from Clarissa and a little from Septimus in the novel. She tries to become the ideal housewife and take care of her child and husband, and that’s what makes her live cannot be filled. She lost the passion to life, but she still forced herself to take the responsibility. After she read the novel, she first tried to suicide, like what Septimus did, but she couldn’t. She was trapped by her family. However, she is inspired by the book deeply and finally decides to leave and lives for herself.
The last character, Virginia, is much like Septimus in the novel. Similar to Septimus, she hears voices, has been told having psychic problem and chooses to suicide to end her live. Although she has an attentive husband, she is still suffered by her psychic illness and the treatments. To her, all the treatments and suggestions are custody and imprisonment. In the scene of having argument with Leonard in the train station, she says: “My life has been stolen from me. I’m living a life I have no wish to live.” We can know that she is upset about has to live a life that follow the orders that doctors give and is always attended by them. All she wants is the right to say and choose her own prescription. Without it, she is only a person who wrestles in the dark and would die someday. All these three women in different times, they have clefts in their souls: the passed romance, the obligation to family and the right to choose.
410302016 英美二 陳 璞
Answer to question one.
I think Marlow’s perspective of Kurtz has changed gradually the more he knows about Mr. Kurtz until he met him in person. Overall, he thought Kurtz was a remarkable man but has the heart of unspeakable darkness of human nature. Marlow ended up thinking that his obsession with Mr. Kurtz was the ”voice” Mr. Kurtz represented to Marlow.
Marlow first heard about Mr. Kurtz that he was a first class agent in Africa; he was not very interested in him. However, the Company’s chief accountant complimented about Mr. Kurtz that he was a remarkable man and told Marlow that one day he would meet Mr. Kurt. This simple statement sparked Marlow’s interest in Mr. Kurtz. Though Mr. Kurtz was just like a “word” to him at the beginning. Marlow wanted to find out how this person really was and what made him become so popular. Upon seeing the portrait that Mr. Kurtz had painted, Marlow took the initiative to ask the brickmaker of the Central station who Mr. Kurtz was. Marlow started to be curious about Mr. Kurtz because he thought he has some big secrets.
I think that Marlow learned the “horror” of human nature from Mr. Kurtz. Mr. Kurtz’s last word burst out with a moment of realization and it made Marlow plunged deep into thought. It was a judgment on how Mr. Kurtz has lived his life for he has no restraint to make more money that the greed and the corruption has drive him crazy. Marlow learned from Kurtz that Mr. Kurtz sees the darkness of human nature. It’s corrupt, dark and savage.
410202045 英美三 楊涵喻
There are some similarities in the characters between The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway.
Clarissa buys flowers in order to hold a party is same as Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway does. Clarissa recalls the memories for being with Richard just like Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway recalls the memories for being with Peter. She has a daughter just like Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway does. And she is similar to Rezia; they both take good care of their love ones.
Laura is similar to Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway; they’re both not satisfied with the life they have now and have lost the passion for life. And the action of kissing Kitty shows her homosexuality just like Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway has.
Virginia is similar to Septimus; both of them suffer from mental illness. Virginia has a husband loves her and takes care of her just like Septimus has Rezia staying by his side. Virginia kisses her sister shows her homosexuality which Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway has. And she is also similar to Rezia; they both miss where they used to live, Virginia misses London and Rezia misses Italy.
Richard is similar to Septimus; they both suffer from mental illness and commit suicide by jumping out of the window. He is also similar to Peter; they both stuck in the memories for being with Clarissa, feel irritated with Clarissa for the kind of life she has chosen to live, and still love Clarissa now.
Sally is similar to Richard in Mrs. Dalloway; both of them are the one Clarissa chooses at last. And she buys flower for Clarissa is same as what Richard does.
410102031 英美四 孫婉容
I want to answer question 1.
Marlow doesn’t know of Kurtz until he hears the rumor about Kurtz . Kurtz is depicted as a charming (stunning eloquence), versatile (excellent at painting, music) man, with lots of followers admiring him. That grows Marlow’s interest toward Kurtz. In the period of repairing the ship, Kurtz is rumored to be ill, which occurs Marlow that he must save Kurtz immediately. The days to repairing the ship becomes more costly, and it indicates homoeroticism between Marlow and Kurtz.
After Marlow arrives the Inner Station, a half-crazed Russian talks about Kurtz that he is not the ordinary person that can be subjected to the moral judgements. It clearly shows that Kurtz has deliberately established himself with a god image, but ironically, he actually engages the notorious ivory trade.
When Marlow finally meets Kurtz, Kurtz’s mistress is standing by his side. Then Kurtz gives Marlow a packet of personal documents with the end of the words: “Exterminate all the brutes!” Kurtz utters the words: “The horror! The horror!” and dies. After that, Marlow visits Kurtz’s fiancée, but his fiancée expects Kurtz would leave some words about her, but Marlow decides to cheat on her.
Although Marlow doesn’t directly point out Kurtz’s hypocrisy, we can still see the contradiction between the perfect image and the ugly exploitation from his narrative about Kurtz. The valuable lesson to Marlow is that it’s a chance to re-think the definition of the ‘real savage’. In my opinion, sadly, civilization is based on white men’s scramble in Africa. Before praising civilization in great western countries, we should keep the unforgettable history in our mind as a reminder that the reason why African countries nowadays suffer problems of famine and wars.
Q1 410102051 英美四 黃昱孜
(1) At first Kurtz’s seems represent the exemplary European who is civilized. He goes to the Africa to educate savages and bring them the dawn of civilization. But when Marlow arrived there that turns out to be the colonialists squeeze, grabbed and brute force. For Kurtz who sounds noble through others’ words and he wrote for the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Custom, everything looks like he is different from the conquerors. However, the truth is that he is nothing different and goes to Congo for his ambitious and his various lusts.
(2) I think Marlow wants to meet Kurtz because of the comments others gave to Kurtz. For example the chief accountant told Marlow about Kurtz who is in charge an important part of their trade, well-respected and also admired by others. According to the comments from others at the station make Marlow becomes fascinated by Kurtz’s story and wandering his thoughts about colonialism. These maybe the reason Marlow wants to meet Kurtz in person.
(3) After meeting Kurtz, Marlow learns the civilization still can not defeat the nature or to say the wilderness. Even though you are a civilized man you still could change by the treacherous forest. In the answer one I mentioned that Marlow realized that the truth of the idealism of their colonialism is complete destroy by human beings’ greedy or to say the colonialists’ original purpose are scramble the Africa. The colonialist in disguise their desire and imperialist into lofty ideas which also rationalize their plunder of Africa. I think Marlow not only realize the dirty truth but also witness by his own eyes.
410202038 英美三 張榮桀Rex
Question three
There are four main characters in The Hours, Virginia, Clarissa, Richard and Laura Brown and they have strong connection with Mrs. Dalloway. Laura Brown, She seems to be a perfect woman with a sweet family, a beloved son and a considerate husband, but she can’t truly be herself and somehow she feels that she is be restrained by her family. There is a feeling which conceals in her deep mind, a feeling which she wants to be free and she can’t pretend as a happy woman anymore. She plans to commit suicide in a hotel, while she changes her mind and she abandons her family and go to Canada instead. Laura Brown is like Clarissa who is an elegant mistress but lives a shallow life with no soul. She is so happy to hold a party and she wants to make other people think that she has a perfect life. Richard, Laura Brown’s son who takes himself as a burden is cared about by Clarissa. Similarly, Laura Brown and Clarissa are all bound tightly by Richard and they can’t have their own lives. In the movie, Clarissa goes to visit Richard and she needs to disguise herself as a happy person to hold a party for him after buying flowers. She does everything for him, but Richard ends his life by jumping out of the window. On one hand, Clarissa is very shocked and she blames Richard’s death on herself. However, on the other hand, she feels relieved and the uneasiness in her mind fades away somehow.
In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa is like in The Hour who is a woman with an elegant appearance, but she is like a dead without soul. Septimus who is retired soldier has mental illness after his best friend’s death in the war field. Rezia who is Septimus’ wife takes care of him but she loses her true self. They are like Richard and Clarissa in the movie. In the end of the story, Clarissa chooses to keep living in a hollow life while Septimous chooses to end his life. They are very similar to Richard and Clarissa in the movie and the feeling of restraint in Laura Brown and Clarissa are similar to each other. Although these characters live in different period of time, their consciousness deeply connect with each other. They share the same feeling and be restricted by the same situation.
410202032 英美三 曾慈鈞
In the film The Hours, the theme that guarding the privacy of one’s soul against the violation of institutional violence can be reveal in Laura Brown and Virginia Woolf. Both of them follow their heart and do something to achieve it. Yet, Clarissa is a woman who stay in the model frame although she fulfill her sexual orientation and together with a woman for decades. The memories that hover in her mind makes she always doubt herself and ask the other possibilities.
Laura Brown is a woman who trapped in a normative marriage. She had a fine marriage, her husband loved her and was responsible to her. Nothing seems to be wrong. Her family is a so-called model family. However, she didn’t satisfied with the identity of good wife or house wife. She wanted to achieve herself or she would kill herself. For example, on the day of her husband’s birthday, she wanted to make a cake for him. She couldn’t even make a fine cake because she was thinking the relationship between her status now and the dream of her. Once, she drove to a hotel and try to suicide because she cannot bear the duty of wife and achieve herself at the same time. At the end, she abandoned her husband and child since she choose to live. It always has to give up something then get another.
Virginia Woolf is a genius writer with bipolar disorder. She is ruled by what doctor’s rule, which is to put her away from city and recuperate. But indeed, she wants to live in city and enjoy the changeable life. Country life is like a medical psychiatric institutions and trapped her. At last, she choose to suicide.
410302032 英美二 袁涵茵
Answer Q3
Based on Mrs. Dalloway, there are many similarities between the movie The Hours and the novel, especially the characters. Obviously, the characters in the movie has share more or less resemblances with those characters in the novel.
Some of characters in The Hours not only possess one character’s temperament. They’re more likely to be seen as a mixture that share the traits from different characters in the novel. For instance, Clarissa in the movie is a person who shares the same traits with both Mrs. Dalloway and Rezia. In the movie, Richard calls Clarissa “Mrs Dalloway” since the shared first name and also the shared destiny. She and Mrs. Dalloway have a similar opening of buying flowers and having a party. They both unsatisfied to their life and eager for the happiness they had felt in the past. Like Mrs. Dalloway had thought much about her past with Peter and Sally; Clarissa often missed the happiness Richard and she had before, her daughter, Julia, even blamed her for always talking to past. However, the difference between these two is that Clarissa stay with Sally instead of Richard. As I mentioned above, Clarissa also share the traits with Rezia. She sees taking care of Richard, her ex-boyfriend whose literary success will be cut short by AIDS, as her responsibility. The interesting thing is that Clarissa bought flowers to Richard Is very similar to Richard buying flowers to Mrs. Dalloway in the novel. The action represent giving love.
Richard is like Septimus. They both are poet, undergone the loss of their dearest, suffered from mental illness and felt painful for living in this world. In the novel, Septimus was once an aspiring poet but having experienced the cruelty of the war and lose his friend Evans, therefore he suffered from shall shock that destroyed his mind. Nobody understood him, nobody ever wanted to listen to him. He was disassociated from world; As for Richard, he lose his mother in his childhood and under the influence of it. He was a successful poet but he believe the reason why he get the award is that people sympathized him. He was tired of living, although Clarissa didn’t. Richard had told Clarissa “I think I’m only staying alive to satisfy you.” They show a kind of giving up. Give up to connect the world and give up to live. Another character in the movie related to Septimus is Woolf. She wrote this story because she felt like dead in the way she live and she knew it would be smarting for everyone she loved. Her husband had once ask her why she wanted to kill her character, she answer “Someone has to die so the rest of us can value life more.” Septimus, Richard and Woolf, they couldn’t bear their life anymore, they think they were burden to their beloved. Somehow the only way to free their soul is to die.
Though Lauren trying to kill herself, she was a little bit different from the three. I think she is more like Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus. They suspect their meaning of life and being squeezed by it, but they choose to live. Mrs. Dalloway doesn’t regret for what she has decided, she accepts what she has in the moment. Lauren tries to committed suicide but fail, she couldn’t give up her love so she run away. They all find a way to survive.
410102071 英美四 陳翰韋
Q4
In Mrs. Dalloway, a theme as guarding one’s private soul from being violated is shown, which the movie, The Hours, has also presented. Three major characters are depicted specifically to show a net which Michael Cunningham tries to construct with this awareness-oriented theme and issue.
Firstly, Virginia Woolf is clearly described as a woman who doesn’t have the freedom /being controlled on meals and routines, which can be partially explained as a way to cure her depression. Otherwise, Virginia Woolf hates where she lives, so that she is dying to move back to London but she cannot.
Next, Laura, as a housewife, she doesn’t like to do all the stuff, which makes her feel no freedom. Critically speaking, in order to insist on breaking down the stereotypes of what women should do and what responsibilities she must have. Laura designs a well-organized blueprint to commit suicide. Her strong will facilitates her to commit suicide because she thought her husband doesn’t even know what she really wants. She finally gives up and compromises with the reality.
The third one is Clarissa. Clarissa is being stuck by what Richard has said and in the memories in the past. The instantly depressive conversations with Richard and Louis sweep over her cheerful temper to prepare the party just in one day. Her space is thoroughly invaded by those memories and death. In other words, she pretends she didn’t lose herself with by holding the party.
Three characters are written with the theme of guarding their private soul from being violated. The only one differentiation is that the cohesion between the ‘victims’ and ‘perpetrators’ are opposite. In Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus is violated by the doctors (as a stranger for Septimus). Nevertheless, In The Hours, three major characters are violated by their closest friends or family members.
410102072 英美四 莊鈞翔
Answering question 1
I think Kurtz’s image to Marlow changes a lot. In the beginning before Marlow met Kurtz, he had heard plenty of news from the others, and he thought Kurtz was a great hero who brought civilization to the jungle and accomplished lots of important tasks. Kurtz was eloquent, ambitious who owns the charisma to succeed. So, Marlow was surely an admirer of Kurtz, and he was looking forward to see his hero.
After he met Kurtz, it was totally different from what he visualized in the beginning. Marlow saw a spiritless man who was swallowed by wilderness, the jungle. Marlow though that Western’s civilization and technology can improve the environment of the jungle, so did Kurtz. However, Kurtz was completely out of his mind. He was corrupted by greed, power and regarded himself as the “king of jungle”-the God. The story ended that Kurtz murmured”horror, horror!” which reflected his failure in his journey.
I believe Marlow learned a lot from the tragic experiences of Kurtz, especially when he described Kurtz as a voracious, hypocritical, stupid coward. First, he knew that he should never let this happen again. He should never forget what he wanted to bring to the jungle in the beginning. The second thing is how significant restraint is. There are always dark sides in one’s mind, so it is crucial to control and resist the lure of power, greed and lust. And the last one is the ambivalence of nature and civilization. I think it’s really hard for both elements to co-exist in this novel. It symbolized that civilization revealed its ugliness in the wilderness, like the white exposed all his desires and weak points in the story.
410202013 林靖瑜
Question 4:
The Hours follows three women, Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown, and Clarissa Vaughn, through one day in their lives. They are women from different periods of time, of different ages, and oddly the same in various aspects. Moreover, three of them fight against the violation of institutional violence and deal with their sufferings in different ways.
Take Laura Brown as an example, she is like many other women of her generation in the U.S., married young and has settled into the roles of perfect suburban wife and mother at a relatively young age, and she feels trapped by the roles, which suffocates her. Especially when she has to pretend to be a caring, understanding, considerable, and loving wife and mother everyday. Although there is nothing wrong with her nearly perfect husband and her adorable son Richy, she still constantly struggles within her soul. This so-called perfect domestic life is not as exciting for her at all, and she is really eager to escape from this acting-normal life. She tries to seek comfort in books, for example, Mrs. Dalloway, because she can step out of her life temporarily and critically examine her own experience through reading. However, reading is not enough for her to fight against the institution and society. In order to set her soul free, and to face her homosexuality, the only way is to run far away from the current life, and she does abandon her family after giving birth to her daughter.
Another example is Virginia, who suffers from mental illness and lives with her husband Leonard in countryside in the movie. Following the doctor’s instruction and Leonard’s will, the Woolf moves to the countryside for the sake of Virginia’s health. Again, like Laura’s husband, Leonard himself is extremely caring and considerate when he deals with Virginia’s “condition”. However, it is also because of this love that blinds him from seeing the actual situation, which is happening in Virginia’s mind. The cozy countryside suppose to bring inner peace for Virginia, but she wants to end it and moves back to London, even if the noisy and busy London might drives her nuts again. At the end of her life, she is tired of the routine and stressful medical advice, and also she cannot reorganize herself after finishing Mrs. Dalloway; she decides to walk toward death and drown herself in a river. This is her way of setting her own soul free, and fighting against the suffocating life.
Sometimes it is just too difficult for us to simply be ourselves, since the world is not just about us; we are not purely individuals, we are human beings, a community, and we need to learn to get along with each other. And because of that, we people struggle a lot with our real identities. The three characters in The Hours, always come to moments in their lives when they stumble upon the superficiality of their days and face their disturbed inner selves.
410202076 英美三 林怡君
Question Number Three.
There are three major characters in the movie which are Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughn and Laura Brown.
In Michael Cunningham’s novel, she creates the writer, Virginia Woolf, as a character who suffers from mental illness. I think this character is based on the author of Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf. She always has headaches and some voices in her head to torture her. Her husband, Leonard Woolf, takes care of her patiently and seriously. She is a talented writer putting energy and strong emotion in her writing. In addition, Virginia Woolf is best known for her writing narrative mode, stream of consciousness. However, in Woolf’s book, there is no this character.
Clarissa Vaughn’s life is like the way Mrs. Dalloway live. Their life is better than others but they are not satisfied. They always recall past times and feel heartbroken at the same time. Woolf’s Clarissa is badly hurt by Peter Walsh who used to fall in love with her but left to India for five years then. On the other hand, Cunningham’s Clarissa and her former lover, Richard Brown who is Laura’s son, are still friends in the film. Being an AIDS patient, Richard is like Woolf’s Septimus Warren Smith because both of them suffer from illness and decide to commit suicide by jumping out the window of building.
Laura Brown reads Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway in the film when she tries to commit suicide. She is a typical womon in her generation marrying young and playing the roles of wife and mother. Laura convinces herself that she is happy but she is not as all of the three main characters in this film. However, she attempted to end her life and leave her kind husband and lovely son because she wants to be free and get rid of the role.
These characters have different kinds of live but they have the same desperation about live.
I want to answer Q3.
In The Hours, there are four main characters. They are Laura Brown, Richard, Clarissa and Virginia. The story talks about three different women’s one day.
Laura is a housewife in Los Angeles. She has a smart son, Richie who knows that she is not happy. Laura is a pregnant who is going to have her second baby. She is preparing a birthday party for her husband. She is reading the book, Mrs. Dalloway. She is tired of being a housewife. She wants to commit suicide. However, her husband doesn’t notice any unusual situations. Fortunately, Laura decides to live in Canada by herself instead of committing suicide.
Clarissa is an editor. Clarissa has a girlfriend who lives with her and a daughter. She is preparing a party for her ex-boyfriend, Richard. Richard is a man who is sick. Clarissa takes care of Richard every day. Unfortunately, Richard chooses to commit suicide before the party.
Virginia Woolf is the author of “Mrs. Dalloway.” She is thinking if the main character commits suicide in her book. Virginia Woolf wants to escape Richmond. However, her husband prefers not to. That’s because her husband thinks suburb is a suitable environment for her mental situation.
Based on the above, there are three women in the story. Virginia Woolf is the author of “Mrs. Dalloway.” Laura is a reader of “Mrs. Dalloway.” Clarissa is a woman who lives like Mrs. Dalloway in the book. She neglects her life because she takes care of her friends.
There are similar themes and characters in Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours. One of the same themes is the guarding of souls against the violation of institutional violence. The Hours consists of three person’s life in three different years, and three of them are suffocated from society. They are so sensitive that they can’t face the world they live. Therefore, they try to find a way to escape the difficult situation they face.
Virginia is a writer, who knows that she has mental disease. She lives in a suburb of London in order to treat his mental problem. However, I think this treatment of Virginia’s problem goes wrong. She can’t manage her live and this makes her feels terrible in there. Because Virginia is a sensitive woman, she focuses on many details that other people don’t focus on. Although she is trying to recover herself, the way she uses to see the world is so profound that her strong emotions finally kill her. I am confused by her decision to die, but I still find some clues that cause her to make this decision from the letter, which is written by Virginia before she commits the suicide. First, she says that all of her happiness is given by her husband, Leonard Woolf. However, I think the truth is that the more Leonard tries to give, the more Virginia feels depressed. I guess the reason is that Virginia is afraid of torture Leonard. Because Virginia can’t face the life she has and tries to escape from the treatment, the treatment that Leonard forces him to do become the pressure of her. Although Virginia knows that Leonard is trying to help her. She doesn’t know how to solve this dilemmatic situation. Thus, she chooses to die to rescue both of them.
Laura Brown lives in a perfect house and has a nice husband who is a war hero. Because of this wonderful quality of life, everyone thinks that Laura should be happy and satisfy about it. Even her husband, Dan, says that this kind of life is what he expects. However, we can find Laura doesn’t like the role as a household and feels something is wrong. In her situation, I think she is suffered from the expectation of the society. For example, she thinks she is a woman to serve as a wife to the men returning from war. Therefore, she seems to be a subordinated thing in the society. All of her duty is to serve her husband and takes care of her family affairs. And these things make her unhappy. Her child, Richie, is also being her pressure in her life because he is the only person who knows everything of Laura. Richie is a sensitive person. Therefore, he knows what Laura thinks and what Laura tries to do. I think Laura is both love and afraid of her child, because her child’s love just likes the most closely expectations of the society.
Laura Brown’s son, Richard, who is suffered from an AIDS. His life is not so important for him anymore because he knows that he can’t recover from his mental or physical disease. He doesn’t want to live like a burden to his lovers It seems that Clarissa’s love become a big pressure that forces him to keep alive. Thus, he chooses to end his life to relief both of them.
Three of them are trying to guard their soul against the institutional violence.
410202023 英美三蘇郁惟
Q4
We can see that those struggles between those characters. From Virginia Woolf to Richard. This movie spins the three different generation. 1923 in England, 1951, in LA and 2001, in New York. Although three stories happen in the different years, background, countries and ages, they all have the same theme, that is breaking free from the normative system of their ages.
Virginia Woolf tried to go back to Landon because the country side drove her in mad. She couldn’t be a “ordinary housewife,” because she was born to write. Her husband understood but couldn’t help but complain sometimes, and those housekeepers liked to talk at her back. And many “traditional” rules and bounds made her feel sick and desire to escape all these suffocating stuff.
Laura in the beginning, showed up in a fragile and morbid beauty. Apparently, she was not happy at all and tried to kill herself by piles of pills but give up at the key moment that she was ready to swallowing those pills. Back home, she knew she can get happiness from the normative marriage. So she escaped from that hose, that family far away.
Clarissa was a tough business woman. But, she was sensitive when talking to Richard, her ex-lover and best friend. And she watched Richard jumped out of window in her face.
In the end, Laura, the Richard’s mother came to Clarissa’s house after Richard died. She looked so calm, peaceful but a little bit sorrow in her eyes. She was no regret to leave her family in LA and go to Canada to pursuit life which she desired. Clarissa also found out her balance in life after Richard’s death. In the end of the end, Virginia Woolf found her way to break free—death.
410302062 英美二 王郁婕 Q4
The Hours focuses on three women whose lives are interconnected by the novel Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Three women are in different generations, but all of them are facing the violation of institutional violence.
In 1920s England, Virginia Woolf was struggling with depression and mental illness. Her soul seemed to be taken away by depression. Because of it, she couldn’t decide her life by herself, even where she lived. She only felt fully alive in London. She knew that living in London was more susceptible to her mental illness, but she wanted to die in London rather than prolonged her meaningless years in Richmond. In the end, she couldn’t change the situation, so she chose to suicides.
In 1950s California, Laura Brown was a pregnant housewife who had a son. An unhappy marriage corroded her soul. The only way to show her love to Dan was to make a birthday cake. She did not love him. As a mother and wife, she devoted herself to her son, her husband, her home and duties. After she kissed Kitty, she realized that these were not what she desired. She wanted to change the situation. There were only two choices: suicided or left. At first, she tried to suicide. Because of the second child, she gave up. She left after giving birth to a baby.
In 2001 New York, Clarissa was trapped in staying alive for Richard, her former lover and friend, who lived with AIDS. Compared with Virginia and Laura, Clarissa didn’t aware that her soul was taking away. Richard told Clarissa the truth. Also, Richard stayed alive for her sake. To guard the privacies of their souls, Richard ended his own life.
410202034 英美三 謝岱蓉 Q3
The major characters in The Hours are not only similar with the characters in Mrs. Dalloway, but in some ways are different from those characters.
In The Hours, the four major characters are Virginia Woolf, Clarissa Vaughan, Laura Brown and Richard. Clarissa Vaughan is like Mrs. Dalloway who buys flowers on her own and plans to hold a party, but Clarissa Vaughan holds the party for her ex-boyfriend, Richard and Mrs. Dalloway’s party is for herself in order to keep her life going on. The relationship between Clarissa and Richard is similar to Rezia and Septimus. Clarissa takes very good care of Richard and worries about his depression, and later he commits suicide in front of her, just as same as the condition of Rezia and Septimus. However, the character, Sally in The Hours has been living with Clarissa for ten years, but in Mrs. Dalloway, she has her own life, having husband and children.
Laura Brown in The Hours is like Mrs. Dalloway, having nice life but it is not what she really wants. As a housewife, she makes a cake for her husband to celebrate his birthday. Nevertheless, she cannot tolerate this terrible life. Instead of committing suicide in the hotel like Virginia and Septimus, she abandons her son, Richard, escaping from her family to Canada having a new life. Besides, when her friend, Kitty visits her, she cannot resist the passion toward Kitty, so she kisses her suddenly. Maybe it is one of the reasons that she leaves her family. The kiss scene resembles Mrs. Dalloway’s memory that she was kissed in the garden by Sally.
I quite like the movie, The Hours and after reading Mrs. Dalloway, I was deeply touched by the movie and felt connected with it.
Kurtz represents an idealistic man of great abilities for Marlow. He was first a mysterious character in the story, later he showed up. For me, I think the theme of heart of darkness is to blame the imperialism and idealism. Kurtz is just like the ideal person for Marlow, so Marlow is so eager to meet the wonderful man.
Finally, the true Kurtz is totally different from what he imagines and hears about. To Kurtz’s cousin, Kurtz is a great musician; to the journalist, a brilliant politician and leader of men; to his fiancée, a great humanitarian and genius. Actually, Kurtz’s image is just like how other people see Marlow, but the real Kurtz is thoroughly beyond Marlow’s imagination. I think it implies that imperialism and idealism might seem great, magnificent and prosperous, but there’s completely a mess inside it.
Marlow refers to Kurtz as “hollow” more than once. This means that Kurtz is not worthy of contemplation. However, Kurtz is also a choice of nightmares for Marlow. Kurtz provides Marlow with a set of paradoxes that Marlow can use to evaluate himself and the company’s men.
Actually, Marlow is confused by the evil things happening nowadays, such as violence and brutality which might be viewed as “civilization treatment toward Africans” by imperialism, so the good image of Kurtz could be a perfect example for him. As we know, we get an outcome cross to the purpose.
Just like what I mentioned before, Kurtz is a person with hypocrisy, ambiguity for Marlow due to the difference between the real Kurtz and what Marlow hears from others.
Kurtz represents an idealistic man of great abilities for Marlow. He was first a mysterious character in the story, later he showed up. For me, I think the theme of heart of darkness is to blame the imperialism and idealism. Kurtz is just like the ideal person for Marlow, so Marlow is so eager to meet the wonderful man.
Finally, the true Kurtz is totally different from what he imagines and hears about. To Kurtz’s cousin, Kurtz is a great musician; to the journalist, a brilliant politician and leader of men; to his fiancée, a great humanitarian and genius. Actually, Kurtz’s image is just like how other people see Marlow, but the real Kurtz is thoroughly beyond Marlow’s imagination. I think it implies that imperialism and idealism might seem great, magnificent and prosperous, but there’s completely a mess inside it.
Marlow refers to Kurtz as “hollow” more than once. This means that Kurtz is not worthy of contemplation. However, Kurtz is also a choice of nightmares for Marlow. Kurtz provides Marlow with a set of paradoxes that Marlow can use to evaluate himself and the company’s men.
Actually, Marlow is confused by the evil things happening nowadays, such as violence and brutality which might be viewed as “civilization treatment toward Africans” by imperialism, so the good image of Kurtz could be a perfect example for him. As we know, we get an outcome cross to the purpose.
Just like what I mentioned before, Kurtz is a person with hypocrisy, ambiguity for Marlow due to the difference between the real Kurtz and what Marlow hears from others.
410302013 施采妤
Q3
There are three main characters in The Hour: Laura, Clarissa, and Virginia Woolf. Laura had a common life like many women of her generation. They married young men, born babies, and be the roles of a good wife and a good mother. She got a dull, boring repeatedly life. However, after she started to read the book, Mrs. Dalloway, she had been inspired by it and she became more and more unhappy and struggling to her life. She looked fine, but she was not. She had a hollow soul. She once tried to kill herself in the hotel with abundant pills, but before she took the pills, she thought of her son and the baby in her belly. She didn’t work out at that time. However, she ultimately left her family after the baby born.
In the movie, Clarissa, who was like the Mrs. Dalloway in the book with the same name, was so bright and active and she was satisfied with her life and details in every day. Yet she still quested herself with the decisions and choices she made. One day, she went to Richard’s like usual, but she was going to have a party on that day and she insisted him to participate. Richard said something to her and made her keep thinking if he was right, if what he said was true. She became confused and frustrated toward her life and relationship with him and Sally. When the second time she went to Richard’s on that day, she saw him commit suicide in front of her.
Virginia Woolf, my favorite character in the movie, was so sensitive toward the world around her and details in life and that made her become a great writer. But her sensitivity was so strong that made herself trapped in her strong endless emotions that kept her mental health misunderstood.
In both the novel and the movie, the characters all had some problems with their lives, and they all wished for a happier life. Though they have the same kink problem, they had different resolutions and attitudes to it at last.
410202021 張媛媛
There are four main characters in the film, The Hours, which are Clarrisa, Richard, Laura, and Virginia Woolf. Both of the film, The Hours, and the novel, Mrs. Dalloway show the similarities and differences of the characters. Based on Virginia Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway, the movie, The Hours, create different characters from Mrs. Dalloway; however, the characters in the film still have their own struggle and conflicts as those in the novel.
Clarrisa who appears both of the novel and the film is the most important one while the story continues going on. At the beginning of the story, she is the one that wants to buy flowers by herself. And she starts her day to hold a party for her dear friend, Richard. Showing her struggle and conflicts living in a life that she doesn't wish to be and always depressed by the present and the past once the memory pops up in her mind, she still takes her steps continuing every day of her life. Although being assumed by most of the people around her that she is merely a rich high class lady without much knowledge and wisdom in her brain, she is still the girl who keeps her fantasy of life in her mind and is sensitive to the things surrounding her. Having no way out to escape the life she lives, Clarrisa maintains her courage to face the days instead of giving up living like Richard or escaping everything and fleeing away as Laura does.
Laura Brown is the one that appears in the film, The Hours, and a character who has the same life situation like Clarrisa but cannot tolerate sacrificing herself in a trapped life; thus, she makes her decision to discard everything including her child, Richard, and moves to Canada. She used to be a housewife living a life with that everyone considered to be perfectly wonderful with a nice husband who treated her so well. However, Laura doesn't want to settle down for such kind of life. She understands that deep inside her heart she has strong desire for her friend like Clarrisa feels toward Sally in the novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Nevertheless, the difference between Clarrisa and Laura is that the decision they made for their life. Clarrisa chooses to stay her life in the same way while Laura abandons all burden including her little son, Richard and heads her way to Canada to start her new life.
Richard in the film is like Septimus in the novel. Both of they suffered from disease. Richard has AIDS and repeatedly thinks himself as a burden to his mother. And, Septimus painfully suffered from physical illness once he lost his dear friend while he was on duty during the war. Both of Richard and Septimus are alone and have no way out to save themselves from suffering in the reality. Therefore, committing suicide seems to be their only way out from the aching trauma.
410302012 張智宇
Answer to the Q3:
Comparison between both Clarissa—I think that one of the obvious imagery that connects the two is the image of flowers, both of these stories start with Clarissa going to buy flowers for their party. Flowers are very vibrant, which is a symbol representing the attempt to change their life. Moreover, the biggest similarity between them is the regret. The regret about choices they made. In the novel, Clarissa wonders if she would've been happier with Sally than she is with Richard. However in The Hours Clarissa is with Sally, and she still wonders about her life.
Laura Brown—Laura brown is another character in The Hours that contemplates death and suicide. The most obvious imagery in the book is that she bake the cake to her husband. Laura is unhappy with the choices she has made, which is similar to Mrs. Dalloway's against over always doing the smart thing. The cake symbolizes an opportunity for Laura to do something perfect, and she spends her day trying to make it perfect for her husband, just like Clarissa wanted the perfect party. The image that goes with this is that of her husband accidentally spitting all over the cake when he blows out the candles. Dan is inadvertently ruining her perfection. In The Hours you can compare the two characters of Kitty and Vanessa. Both of them give two depressed characters a rare moment of happiness when they kiss them. The image of a simple kiss is something that is prominent in both novels. Clarissa remembers a kiss with Sally in Mrs. Dalloway as a rare moment of happiness, Virginia kissing Vanessa and Laura kissing Kitty gives both of them a moment of happiness in a depressing day.
Richard—In The Hours Richard can be compared to multiple characters in Mrs. Dalloway. It would seem that the easiest character to compare him to would be Richard Dalloway, but it’s inaccurate except sharing the same name. When talking about imagery, Richard can easily be compared to Septimus. These characters’ suicides are the most powerful imagery. When Richard inches toward the edge, preparing for his death, it is an incredibly powerful image. When Cunningham describes Richard falling in slow motion, to his death it seems as if he is falling to freedom, like Septimus was. Both men are sick, and the only way they can escape there sickness is death.
410202031 英美三 游皓宇
Q3
I would like to analyze some points which both mention in the novel Mrs. Dalloway and The Hours. In Fact, The Hours gives me more impression on the plots. I can still remember that Virginia Wolf walks into the river and end her life. She has some mental illness and this makes her disappointed and blue. In the novel, Virginia also faces this kind of problem. The author uses her own experiences to this novel. In other words, it’s kind of reflection of her mind.
About Carissa Dalloway, there are some similarities. For example, the flowers, I think that they are a kind of symbol of her. They represent the emotion of her because she loves flowers so much. In her apartment, there are always a lot of flowers to decorate and she likes that kind of surrounding to live. However, there are still some differences between novel and movie. The Hours focuses more on the relationship between Carissa and Richard, which is her husband. On the other side, the novel focuses more on interaction with Sally, which is one of her best friend.
Next, I want to talk about Laura, one of the characters in The Hours. She lived in 1950’s, which is a period after the World War II. She had a very good husband and son. It looked like a really happy family; however, she looked distressed and blue. In the movie, she even left her kid at babysitter’s place and went away to a hotel. This shows her conflicts in her mind.
英美三 410202001 林冠宇
Answer Q3
I think Clarissa Vaughn and Clarissa Dalloway maybe are the easiest connection to make between The hours and Mrs. Dalloway. The similar imagery that connects the two is the image of flowers. The two stories start with Clarissa going to buy flowers for their party. Both Clarissa's buy flowers so they can let their party more prefects. The different between the two characters is the regret the choices they have made. In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa wonders if she happier with Sally than she is with Richard. However in The Hours Clarissa is with Sally, but she still thinks about her life.
In The Hours the character of Richard can be compared to Septimus the characters in Mrs. Dalloway. The strongest image in both stories is that of these character's suicides. When Richard sits by the window, ready for his death, it is a very similar imagery. When Richard falling in slow mode, to his death it looks like he is falling to freedom, like Septimus too. Richard and Septimus are ill, and the only way they can escape there problem is death. Virginia also similar with Septimus in Mrs. Dalloway too. Virginia and Septimus hate their doctors. Those doctors believe follow theirs treatment and they both can be cured. However they both know doctors just try to kill them souls, and they all understand death is the only way.
Finally I want to talk about kiss in The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway. As we know Sally kisses Clarissa gives her a rare moment of happiness. We can compare similar imagery are the two characters of Virginia and Laura in The Hours. Both of them give two depressed characters of Vanessa and Kitty a rare moment of happiness when Virginia and Laura kiss them. The image of a simple kiss is something that is eminent in both novels.
英美四 410102029 彭靜怡
I would like to respond to question three.
The movie is a story about three ladies, and the stories of three ladies are in similar vein of a novel called Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. With three parallel stories to three different women, the narrative change between them throughout the movie. Virginia who apparently suffers from bipolar disorder is melancholy to her life which is the first time line. Another time line goes with a woman named Laura Brown whose family is pretty much like American dream at post-world War two. She is a house wife living a life which people dream of and obsessed with. However, Instead of having the sense of satisfaction, she felt confused and helpless. The other Woman named Clarissa Vaughan who is homosexual lives with her lover, Sally, in a lovely apartment. Clarissa is going to host a party in honor of Richard’s award. The two literature shares a lot of similarities. In The Hours, Clarissa Vaughan is mostly like is mostly like Clarissa Dalloway. Both of them doubt that if they chose the right person to spend their lives with. Clarissa Dalloway wonders whether she would be much happier with Sally than with Richard. Besides, both of them struggle to deal with death and the meaning of existence. In The Hours, Richard is the most important person in Clarissa Vaughan’s life perhaps. She knows she can’t live without Richard. She takes good care of him and throws the party so as to cheer him up. It turned out that her top priority surround with Richard’s life. She doesn’t live for herself but Richard. “People stay alive for each other.” Once said by Clarissa Vaughan. Eventually, Richard kills himself so that Clarissa will finally be forced to live her own life, instead of living only to salvage him. In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa has the same issue, she cares so much about her social status, and societies expectations of her. Though she used to dream of life filled with excitements, she ultimately married dull but kind Peter for the financial stability and sense of security. She is not who she used to be and keep wondering if she makes the right decision. Comparing the women‘s role in two works. In The Hours, Laura felt trapped as a typical house wife which society assign to them. Given form the surface, she seems to have a cute kid and kind husband, she felt extremely empty. She wants to seek more in her life not mere a house wife. House wife’s insignificant duties make her life meaningless, and she even wants to commit a suicide so that she can escape from these nightmares. The society restricts the women, if they don’t serve as a “proper” wife, doing the laundry or cleaning the floor they would be label as an irresponsible mother and wife. Therefore, Laura decides to leave her family, and she doesn’t feel regretful. She knows that staying would be equal to death for her, like a slow poison. She has no choice but to abandon her kid, because this is her only way out.
I would like to answer question 1.
Kurtz represent the dark side of people. He is the so-called civilized man who is in fact without restraint. He lost his last bit of reason while he entered the untamed region of Congo. And he is also just like other Western people who believe in imperialism. The reason why Marlow wants to meet Kurtz so bad at first is that everyone describes him as a perfect guy, without any fragments. The Accountant describes Kurtz as a “first class agent” of the company, and a very remarkable man. What's more, the Manager of the Central Station tells Marlow that Kurtz is the best agent of the company in Congo, and that he is an exceptional man, of the greatest importance to the company. And even the brick maker Marlow meets in the Central Station says that Kurtz is a prodigy, the guidance of high intelligence of Congo, and even, “a universal genius.” However, the truth is, Kurtz’s mind is actually being messed up by the wilderness of Congo. After Marlow meets Mr. Kurtz, he learns that Kurtz is actually a mad man who is charmed by the unlimited wealth and power in the interior of Congo. Marlow learns that a civilization cannot return to nature. And what humankind really is, which are corrupt, dark, and greedy. Just like the U.K. at that time, a country who believes in imperialism, is a lively example. Above all, he truly knows that what is civilized is actually not, and what is wild is in fact more civilized.
410002061 英美五 申傳勝
Q3:
First, it is really exciting to see three of my favorite and extraordinary actresses give their brilliant performances together in one single movie. In the movie, I believe the theme is connected with the state of isolation and desperation, especially in one’s mind. The loneliness is not about the loss of one’s company, but is one’s feeling that no one truly understands.
Laura, in the age of her time, she is a pretty housewife. She does exactly what being a housewife should do, but she would absolutely hate it. In her life, she is trapped. The marriage is a cage. However, she chooses to escape the life she owns, although she knows her disappearance would harm her lovely son deeply. Rather she accepts death, she chooses life. In my opinion, I would not say she is a selfish person, but I want to say she is a brave human. In the society, I believe most of us follow the route that society gives us, but how many of us would choose to make our own road? Maybe those the most brave ones.
Clarrisa, she is a modern woman who lives in New York and stays with her lover. She seems to have her own life, but in the other hand, she cannot leave Richard alone. Clarissa’s lover, she is similar to the character Sally. Both of the two women are independent. Richard, as the patient of AIDS, he suffers the pain of sickness and desperation of his life. He resembles Septimus in the novel. Both of them choose to suicide. They choose to release themselves from the death of life. They step into a better place with their courage.
410302049 洪子宸
Question 1
(1)What does Kurtz represent to Marlow?
Kurtz stands for the dark side and the evil things that happened in the forest, although his mind has been corrupted and compromised, he also means that it is impossible for a civilized people become a totally wild person.
(2)Why does Marlow want to meet Kurtz?
Before Marlow met Kurtz, he thought that Kurtz is a success person, because he heard a lot of rumors from the manager. He said Kurtz is a grisliness man and handle things very efficiency. So, of course Marlow admire Kurtz very much. Except Marlow, there are still many people admire Kurtz, too. Take the Russian boy for example, even Kurtz wants to kill him, the boy still give a positive comment about him. So Marlow wants to meet Kurtz face to face to know that why there are so many people like him. Moreover, I think that it is the curiosity lure Marlow to meet Kurtz, because Kurtz is like a myth to him, and Marlow wants to know if all the rumors are true.
(3)What does Marlow learn from his meeting with Kurtz?
Marlow learns that it is impossible for the civilized person goes back to the nature, but he also knows that why the Russian boy admire Kurtz so much, because even if Kurtz did many evil things, he can still give some righteous speech.
There are four main characters in the movie, Laura Brown, Richard, Clarissa and Virginia. The story portrays three different women through one day in their lives. Virginia Woolf is a writer that suffers from the mental disorder. She doesn’t get along with her husband. In this movie, we can see the concept of homosexuality, and Virginia Woolf cannot tell anyone about her secret love. She also knows that she can only felt alive in London, because of living in London was more impressionable to her mental illness, but she wanted to die in London rather than prolonged the rest of her meaningless years in Richmond.
In the end, she is depressive about anything in her struggle life. Virginia Woolf realizes that she cannot live with the whole repression in her life and also she couldn’t even change the situation. Therefore, she chose to commit suicide and get rid of this world, because she wants to guard her soul from the hateful violence.
Second, I want to talk about the connection between Clarissa and Laura. They are similar with each other. In Mrs. Dalloway, Clarissa is a woman who regards social status as important. Maybe she bears with noble appearance, however, she gets nothing but hollow in soul. She is alive but she always lives like the dead. Third, in the novel of Mrs. Dalloway that Septimus is a vegan who has mental illness because of his lover died in the war. In the end of the story, Clarissa chooses to live the vacant life but Septimous choose the end his life. He believes that only by death can guard his soul and his secret.
I would like to answer question 4.
The Hours explores this theme through the lives of the three women. In the movie, Virginia Woolf wants to escape from the suburban district which is actually a medical-psychiatric institution to her, and she yearns for London’s life. However, Virginia’s husband insists that suburban life is better for her mental condition, and this causes bigger pressure to her psychology. Laura Brown is a perfect housewife in 1951. She says that women are the presents for men who are veterans after World War II. After the war, the whole community looks forward to a stable life style, so “perfect family” arise. “Perfect family” may be a safe choice for the society, but safe cannot stand for good or even satisfying. The living way of “perfect family” seems to be beautiful and sweet, but actually, it is just pretending. Laura’s husband does not understand her at all. That is why Laura tries to commit suicide because she wants to get away from her family and her marriage. Clarissa takes care of her ex-boyfriend, Richard, who has AIDS wholeheartedly. Richard is the religion of Clarissa’s life. If Richard dies one day, she will not know what to do and how to live her own life because most of her life lives for him. The Hours shows a quiet desperation of the three women’s life because they are trapped by some limitations in life, and in the end of the movie, they free themselves in different ways: commit suicide, abandon family, and watch boyfriend’s death which are also astounding after watching.
410202037 英美三 徐翊庭
3. In the movie The Hours (adapted from Michael Cunningham's 1999 Pulitzer-winning novel of the same name), the lives of three women of different generations are interwoven with one another. Inspired by Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, Cunningham creates characters whose characteristics and traits are drawn from the major characters in Mrs. Dalloway. Discuss the major characters in The Hours. How are they different from or similar with the characters in Mrs. Dalloway?
In the movie, The Hours, there is closely connected and interrelated to the Mrs. Dalloway written by Virginia Woolf who suffered from severe bouts of mental illness throughout her whole life whose mental illness is the root of The Hours and Mrs. Dalloway. In The Hours, it describes the three women of different generations, who is Woolf, Laura Brown, and Clarissa Vaughan whose lives are interwoven to Mrs. Dalloway, the novel. Compare to Mrs. Dalloway, there some differences and similarities between each other such as the time, characters and some plots. Clarissa appears, in The Hours, with living in 2000s and playing an editor, while the novel’s Clarissa is an upper-class women in 1920s. Also, the movie’s Clarissa is bisexual and has been living with Sally Lester, had been a relationship with Richard while, in the novel, this Clarissa has been Richard Dalloway’s wife and didn’t very close to Sally. Then, of the movie, Richard has a reflection of Septimus of Mrs. Dalloway because he suffered the depression and committed suicide by jumping out the window. This plot is similar to Septimus, however, the character becomes Richard. Besides, Louis Waters, in The Hours, who came to Clarissa’s party, and is similar to Mrs. Dalloway’s plot that Peter Walsh also visited Clarissa Dalloway’s party. Louis Waters is supposed to the Peter Walsh’s embodiment. In addition to the plots’ comparison, I consider that the movie’s structure and arrangements jump here and there so that make these women living in different era be woven together. This kind descriptive skill is similar to Mrs. Dalloway’s writing technique, conscience stream, so that Virginia Woolf enable slowly tell her story with every little details whenever Virginia Woolf thinks of anything and everywhere her mind does go to. Furthermore, both of movie and novel go around same issues like same-sex desire, women’s freedom and the depressions and struggles of private parts of a man.
410301022 中文二俞亭安
Marlow as a narrator in "Heart of darkness" who uses his on perspective to tell his story, this framing technique makes readers deeply believe in his testimony in this journey. During his adventure to Africa, Marlow's mission is to rescue Kurtz, a mysterious man. Marlow knows nothing about him, but the whole fleet and the people he meets keep telling him about Kurtz's information and visualization, this strengthen Marlow's curiosity toward Kurtz. To Marlow, Kurtz is an ideal leader who has strong personal charisma and famous for his eloquence, these characteristics make his followers be loyal to him, they think that he's going to bring the light of civilization into the heart of darkness, and his action could lead the people in Africa out of barbarism, but actually his purpose is to "exterminate all the brutes!"
Before knowing such evil intention of Kurtz, Marlow even has intense fascination to him which might indicates homoeroticism. In my opinion, Marlow is an epitome of hero who undergoes a journey that makes him become wiser, when he comes back from the itinerant adventure, he knows that Kurtz is a represent of imperialism which pretends to bring civilization to Africa, bot actually wants to loot everything from Africa, from nature. More over, from the quote that Marlow said: " And this also, has been one of the dark places of the earth." We can see that Marlow learns that London is the true evil center of empire, and Conrad has this kind of prophetic concept in his mind, so he reveals this kind to the readers through Marlow's story.
41020A039 英美三 李季穎
In the entire story,it shows that how Marlow feel Kurtz have the big difference. At the first, Marlow admires Kurtz. He feels Kurtz is so attractive. I think in this point, I found maybe Marlow is homosexual because I think Marlow’s response is not normal as the normal men like women. Kurtz represents the word just exist only the bad things. The world is dark and despair. If people from the civilized world want to come back to nature, it is impossible. Nevertheless, the desperate thinking just come from his thinking which is polluted and not innocent.
(2)
I think Marlow listen a lot of things related to Kurtz from the manager, the manager said Kurtz is a grisliness man and he handle the affairs so efficient. Marlow hears a lot of hypes surrounding Kurtz. And think he is a successful person. Therefore, he respect Kurtz before meeting him. A lot of people admire him, for example, The Russian boy, praise him so much even if Kurtz ever want to kill him. Consequently, he is curious that he want to see Kurtz himself and want to know why everybody likes him. On the other hand, I think there is some homosexual sign in the place because I think no one can let people have so lot curiosity. Just Marlow is fall in love in Kurtz. He want to meet him and know more thing related to Kurtz.
(3)
Marlow learn that civilization cannot come back to the nature which Kurtz teach him after Marlow meet Kurtz. It is so desperate and dark thinking I think. But Marlow also know why he can be admired by the Russian boy though he do many bad things because he talk some righteous comment even if he ever do that.
英美二 410302010 洪寧孺
In the film, “The Hours", Laura Brown is similar to Virginia Woolf, the author of Mrs. Dalloway. She is anxious with her life and contemplates committing suicide. Though the two both live a life with no conflicts and everything seems fine on the surface; both have a hardworking husband that supports the family, seemingly nothing to worry about. However, they’re intrapsychic life are totally gloomy. Clarissa is similar to the character, Clarissa in Virginia Woolf's novel, Mrs. Dalloway. They both buy themselves flowers in the morning, showing an image of independent women. Besides, they both hold parties. In the novel, Clarissa holds parties because she wants to provide an outlet for people to converse. Clarissa in the film intends to hold a party to celebrate Richard’s literary achievement, gathering their close friends. In a way, she’s also providing an outlet for people to converse. The two don’t take their beloved ones into much consideration. For Clarissa in Mrs. Dalloway, she neglects her best pals, Sally and Peter in the party because as a hostess, she has to take care of all the guests, no matter invited or not. In the film, having known that Richard doesn’t want to attend the party but still forces him to come and doesn’t try to stand in Richard’s shoes. Eventually, it leads to the sad incident, Richard committing suicide in her presence. Another thing I would like to mention is that all three women in the film, Virginia Woolf, Clarissa, and Laura shares one thing in common, which is that they don’t take things as they are. On the contrary, they spend time listening to the sound of their heart. Whether finding a solution to getaway or not, they already make themselves extraordinary in their ordinary lives.
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