Brief Overview on Da Vinci Code

Hetal Dabhi

Sem-4 

Paper no:-13(New Literature)

Assignment

Overview on Da Vinci Code

Plot Overview of Da Vinci Code

In the Louvre, a monk of Opus Dei named Silas apprehends Jacques Saunière, the museum’s curator, and demands to know where the Holy Grail is. After Saunière tells him, Silas shoots him and leaves him to die. However, Saunière has lied to Silas about the Grail’s location. Realizing that he has only a few minutes to live and that he must pass on his important secret, Saunière paints a pentacle on his stomach with his own blood, draws a circle with his blood, and drags himself into the center of the circle, re-creating the position of Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man. He also leaves a code, a line of numbers, and two lines of text on the ground in invisible ink.

A police detective, Jerome Collet, calls Robert Langdon, the story’s protagonist and a professor of symbology, and asks him to come to the Louvre to try to interpret the scene. Langdon does not yet realize that he himself is suspected of the murder.

After murdering Saunière, Silas calls the “Teacher” and tells him that, according to Saunière, the keystone is in the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. The Teacher sends Silas there. Silas follows Saunière’s clues to the keystone’s location and discovers that he has been tricked. In a fit of rage, he kills Sister Sandrine Bieil, the church’s keeper and a sentry for the Priory of Sion. At the Louvre, Langdon meets Jerome Collet and Bezu Fache, the police captain, and realizes that the two policemen suspect him of the murder.

Sophie Neveu, an agent of the department of cryptology and Saunière’s granddaughter, arrives at the crime scene and tells Langdon that he must call the embassy. When Langdon calls the number Sophie gave him, he reaches her answering service. The message warns Langdon that he is in danger and should meet Sophie in the bathroom at the Louvre.

In the bathroom, Sophie shows Langdon that Fache is noting his movements with a tracking device. She throws the device out the window onto a passing truck, tricking the police into thinking that Langdon has escaped from the Louvre.

Sophie also tells Langdon that the last line in the secret message, “P.S. Find Robert Langdon,” was her grandfather’s way of alerting her: P.S. are the initials of her grandfather’s nickname for her, Princesse Sophie. Langdon thinks that P.S. might stand for Priory of Sion, an ancient brotherhood devoted to the preservation of the pagan goddess worship tradition, and to the maintenance of the secret that Saunière died protecting.

Langdon decodes the second and third lines in Saunière’s message: “Leonardo Da Vinci! The Mona Lisa!” Sophie returns to the paintings to look for another clue. The police have returned to the Louvre as well, and they arrest Langdon. Sophie finds a key behind the Madonna of the Rocks. By using the painting as a hostage, she manages to disarm the police officer and get herself and Langdon out of the building.

Vernet successfully smuggles Sophie and Langdon past Collet in the back of a locked armored car. Vernet turns on them, but they manage to get away with the cryptex, which Langdon realizes is actually the Priory keystone—that is, the key to all of the secrets the Priory holds about the location of the Holy Grail.

Langdon and Sophie go to the house of Sir Leigh Teabing, a historian, to ask for his help opening the box. Teabing tells them the legend of the Grail, starting with the historical evidence that the Bible didn’t come straight from God but was compiled by Emperor Constantine. He also cites evidence that Jesus’ divinity was decided by a vote at Nicaea, and that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, who was of royal blood, and had children by her. Teabing shows them the hidden symbols in The Last Supper and the painted representation of the Magdalene. He tells them that the Holy Grail is actually Mary Magdalene’s body and the documents that prove Mary’s blood line is related to Jesus. He says he thinks Saunière and the others may have been killed because the Church suspected that the Priory was about to unveil this secret.

As Langdon is showing off the cryptex, Silas appears and hits him over the head. Silas holds Sophie and Teabing at gunpoint and demands the keystone, but Teabing attacks Silas, hitting him on the thigh where his punishment belt is located, and Sophie finishes him off by kicking him in the face. They tie Silas up.

Collet arrives at the castle, but Sophie, Langdon, the bound Silas, Teabing, and his servant, Rémy, escape and board Teabing’s private plane to England. Sophie realizes that the writing on the cryptex is decipherable if viewed in a mirror. They come to understand the poem, which refers to “a headstone praised by Templars” and the “Atbash cipher,” which will help them arrive at the password. Langdon remembers that the Knights Templar supposedly worshipped the god Baphomet, who is sometimes represented by a large stone head. The word, unscrambled by the Atbash Cipher, is Sofia. When they open the cryptex, however, they find only another cryptex, this one with a clue about a tomb where a knight was buried by a pope. They must find the orb that should have been on the knight’s tomb.

Fache realizes that Teabing and the rest of them are in the jet. He calls the British police and asks them to surround the airfield, but Teabing tricks the police into believing that there is nobody inside the plane but himself. Then he goes with Sophie, Langdon, Rémy, and Silas to the Temple Church in London, the burial site of knights that the Pope had killed.

Rémy frees Silas and reveals that he, too, follows the Teacher. Silas goes to the church to get the keystone, but when he tries to force Langdon to give it up, Langdon threatens to break it. Rémy intervenes, taking Teabing hostage and thus forcing Langdon to give up the cryptex.

Meanwhile, Collet and his men look through Teabing’s house and become suspicious when they find that he has been monitoring Saunière. Over the phone, the Teacher instructs Silas to let Rémy deliver the cryptex. The Teacher meets Rémy in the park and kills him. The Teacher calls the police and turns Silas in to the authorities. As Silas tries to escape, he is shot, and he accidentally shoots his idol, Bishop Aringarosa.

Silas takes Bishop Aringarosa to the hospital and staggers into a park, where he dies. In the hospital the next day, Aringarosa bitterly reflects that Teabing tricked him into helping with his murderous plan by claiming that if the Bishop delivered the Grail to him, he would help the Opus Dei regain favor with the Church.

Sophie’s and Langdon’s research leads them to the discovery that Sir Isaac Newton is the knight they are looking for, the one buried by a Pope, because they learn he was buried by Alexander Pope. They go to Westminster Abbey, where Newton is buried. There, the Teacher lures them to the garden with a note saying he has Teabing. They go there only to discover that Teabing himself is the Teacher. Teabing suspected that Saunière had decided not to release the secret of the Priory of Sion, because the Church threatened to kill Sophie if the secret was released. Wanting the secret to be public knowledge, he had decided to find the Grail himself.

Teabing gives Langdon the cryptex and asks Langdon and Sophie to help him open it. Langdon figures out that the password is apple—the orb missing from Newton’s tomb. He opens the cryptex and secretly takes out the papyrus. Then he throws the empty cryptex in the air, causing Teabing to drop his pistol as he attempts to catch it and prevent the map inside from being destroyed. Suddenly, Fache bursts into the room and arrests Teabing.

The papyrus inside the second cryptex directs Sophie and Langdon to Scotland, where Sophie finds her brother and her grandmother. During the reunion, she discovers that her family is, indeed, of the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Sophie and Langdon part, promising to meet in Florence in a month. Back in Paris, Langdon comprehends the poem, which leads him to the small pyramid built into the ground in the Louvre.

Characters of Da Vinci Code

Robert Langdon

The novel’s protagonist, anchors the story. He is likable, capable, and goodhearted. Langdon is trustworthy, as is Sophie, his female counterpart and love interest. This trustworthiness makes him stand out in a narrative in which the author casts doubt on the motivations of every major character except Langdon and Sophie. In the novel’s many moments of uncertainty, Langdon’s presence is consistently reassuring.

Although he is seen as a sex symbol in the academic world, Langdon is clumsy and inept with guns and weapons and lacks resolve when it comes to planning and executing action. He would rather think about codes and symbols than figure out how to escape the Louvre under the eyes of policemen. For this reason, he is balanced well by Sophie, who transforms his intellectual abilities into survival skills that are applicable to real life.

Sophie Neveu

presence in the novel embodies the Chinese idea of yin and yang, or two complementary forces that work together in harmony. From Langdon and Teabing, Sophie learns that pagan religions and the Priory valued balance between male and female. Sophie and Langdon form the male and female halves of a single protagonist, and their goals never diverge. In this way, they echo Teabing’s and Langdon’s ideas about the partnership of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. In their view, the male and the female worked together toward a goal, without the female being subordinate to the male in any way.

Both Sophie and Langdon, like the Mona Lisa, exhibit male and female traits: for example, Langdon’s headiness is balanced by Sophie’s real world know-how. Sophie is quick-witted, agile, devious when she needs to be, and physically assertive, as when she helps to disable Silas in the chateau. But at the same time, she is caring and compassionate. She feels the loss of her family deeply and mourns the death of her grandfather. Both brilliant and sexually attractive, Sophie combines a masculine toughness with typically feminine qualities.

Leigh Teabing

Initially, Teabing is a welcome benefactor for Sophie and Langdon. His estate, Château Villette, with its gorgeous sitting room and enormous, book-lined study, seems to be an appealing embodiment of its owner. Teabing supplies much-needed comic relief, and he banters with his manservant and with Sophie as if he were a rich and dotty old uncle. His Land Rover and the bribes he gives to his pilot at the airfield in France help Sophie and Langdon escape from the police.

Soon enough, though, Brown reveals that Teabing is a murderer. After his true identity is known, Teabing turns into a living example of the way wealth can corrupt. Teabing, who has always lived a privileged life, convinces himself that his money entitles him to the knowledge of the Grail’s location. His ballroom-turned-study, which at first seems charmingly cluttered, begins to look like the crazy lair of a serial killer. His jokes turn from entertaining to manipulative. And his habit of throwing money around, bribing people in order to ensure the group’s safe passage out of France, seems self-serving.

Themes 

The False Conflict between Faith and Knowledge

Dan Brown refuses to accept the idea that faith in God is rooted in ignorance of the truth. The ignorance that the Church has sometimes advocated is embodied in the character of Bishop Aringarosa, who does not think the Church should be involved in scientific investigation. According to The Da Vinci Code, the Church has also enforced ignorance about the existence of the descendents of Jesus. Although at one point in the novel Langdon says that perhaps the secrets of the Grail should be preserved in order to allow people to keep their faith, he also thinks that people who truly believe in God will be able to accept the idea that the Bible is full of metaphors, not literal transcripts of the truth. People’s faith, in other words, can withstand the truth.

The Subjectivity of History

The Da Vinci Code raises the question of whether history books necessarily tell the only truth. The novel is full of reinterpretations of commonly told stories, such as those of Jesus’ life, the pentacle, and the Da Vinci fresco The Last Supper. Brown provides his own explanation of how the Bible was compiled and of the missing gospels. Langdon even interprets the Disney movie The Little Mermaid, recasting it as an attempt by Disney to show the divine femininity that has been lost. All of these retellings are presented as at least partly true.

The Intelligence of Women

Characters in The Da Vinci Code ignore the power of women at their peril. Throughout the novel, Sophie is underestimated. She is able to sneak into the Louvre and give Langdon a secret message, saving him from arrest, because Fache does not believe her to be capable of doing her job. Fache specifically calls Sophie a “female cryptologist” when he is expressing his doubts about Sophie and Langdon’s ability to evade Interpol. When interpreting one of the clues hidden in the rose box, Langdon and Teabing leave Sophie out, completely patronizing her. When she is finally allowed to see the clue, she immediately understands how to interpret it. Sophie saves Langdon from arrest countless times.

Other women are similarly underestimated. Sister Sandrine, in the Church of Saint-Sulpice, is a sentry for the Brotherhood, but Silas, indoctrinated in the hypermasculine ways of Opus Dei, does not consider her a threat. And Marie Chauvel, Sophie’s grandmother, manages to live without incident near Rosslyn Chapel for years, preserving her bloodline through Sophie’s brother.

Reference,

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Da Vinci Code.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 7 Mar. 2020.

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Major characters of Da Vinci Code

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Major themes of Things Fall Apart and character of Okonkow

Name:- Hetal Dabhi
Sem:- 4
Paper:-14 (The African Literature)



Assignment


Character of Okonkow

The protagonist of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is also considered a tragic hero. A tragic hero holds a position of power and prestige, chooses his course of action, possesses a tragic flaw, and gains awareness of circumstances that lead to his fall. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his fear of weakness and failure.In his thirties, Okonkwo is a leader ofthe Igbo community of Umuofia. Achebe describes him as "tall and huge" with "bushy eyebrows and [a] wide nose [that gives] him a very severe look." When Okonkwo walks, his heels barely touch the ground, like he walks on springs, "as if he [is] going to pounce on somebody." Okonkwo "stammers slightly" and his breathing is heavy.Okonkwo is renowned as a wrestler, a fierce warrior, and a successful farmer of yams (a "manly" crop). He has three wives and many children who live in huts on his compound. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status; his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure. He is quick to anger, especially when dealing with men who are weak, lazy debtors like his father. However, Okonkwo overcompensates for his father's womanly (weak) ways, of which he is ashamed, because he does not tolerate idleness or gentleness. Even though he feels inward affection at times, he never portrays affection toward anyone. Instead, he isolates himself by exhibiting anger through violent, stubborn, irrational behavior. Okonkwo demands that his family work long hours despite their age or limited physical stamina, and he nags and beats his wives and son, Nwoye, who Okonkwo believes is womanly like his father, Unoka.Okonkwo is impulsive; he acts before he thinks. Consequently, Okonkwo offends the Igbo people and their traditions as well as the gods of his clan. Okonkwo is advised not to participate in the murder of Ikefemuna, but he actually kills Ikefemuna because he is "afraid of being thought weak." When the white man brings Christianity to Umuofia, Okonkwo is opposed to the new ways. He feels that the changes are destroying the Igbo culture, changes that require compromise and accommodation —two qualities that Okonkwo finds intolerable. Too proud and inflexible, he clings to traditional beliefs and mourns the loss of the past.When Okonkwa rashly kills a messenger from the British district office, his clansmen back away in fear; he realizes that none of them support him and that he can't save his village from the British colonists. Okonkwo is defeated. He commits suicide, a shameful and disgraceful death like his father's.

Major themes of Things Fall Apart

Introduction

For many writers, the theme of a novel is the driving force of the book during its creation. Even if the author doesn't consciously identify an intended theme, the creative process is directed by at least one controlling idea —a concept or principle or belief or purpose significant to the author. The theme —often several themes —guides the author by controlling where the story goes, what the characters do, what mood is portrayed, what style evolves, and what emotional effects the story will create in the reader.

Igbo Society Complexity

From Achebe's own statements, we know that one of his themes is thecomplexity of Igbo society before the arrival of the Europeans. To support this theme, he includes detailed Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apartdescriptions of the justice codes and the trial process, the social and family rituals, the marriage customs, food production and preparation processes, the process of shared leadership for the community, religious beliefs and practices, and the opportunities for virtually every man to climb the clan's ladder of success through his own efforts. The book may have been written more simply as a study of Okonkwo's deterioration in character in an increasingly unsympathetic and incompatible environment, but consider what would have been lost had Achebe not emphasized the theme of the complex and dynamic qualities of the Igbo in Umuofia.

Clash of Cultures

Against Achebe's theme of Igbo cultural complexity is his theme of the clash of cultures. This collision of cultures occurs at the individual and societal levels, and the cultural misunderstanding cuts both ways: Just as the uncompromising Reverend Smith views Africans as "heathens," the Igbo initially criticize the Christians and the missionaries as "foolish." For Achebe, the Africans' misperceptions of themselves and of Europeans need realignment as much as do the misperceptions of Africans by the West. Writing as an African who had been "Europeanized," Achebe wrote Things Fall Apartas "an act of atonement with [his] past, the ritual return and homage of a prodigal son." By his own act, he encourages other Africans, especially ones with Western educations, to realize that they may misperceive their native culture.

Destiny

Related to the theme of cultural clash is the issue of how much the flexibility or the rigidity of the characters (and by implication, of the British and Igbo) contribute to their destiny. Because of Okonkwo's inflexible nature, he seems destined for self-destruction, even before the arrival of the European colonizers. The arrival of a new culture only hastens Okonkwo's tragic fate.Two other characters contrast with Okonkwo in this regard: Mr. Brown, the first missionary, and Obierika, Okonkwo's good friend. Whereas Okonkwo is an unyielding man of action, the other two are more open and adaptable men of thought. Mr. Brown wins converts by first respecting the traditions and beliefs of the Igbo and subsequently allowing some accommodation in the conversion process. Like Brown, Obierika is also a reasonable and thinking person. He does not advocate the use of force to counter the colonizers and the opposition. Rather, he has an open mind about changing values and foreign culture: "Who knows what may happen tomorrow?" he comments about the arrival of foreigners. Obierika's receptive and adaptable nature may be more representative of the spirit of Umuofia than Okonkwo's unquestioning rigidity.For example, consider Umuofia's initial lack of resistance to the establishment of a new religion in its midst. With all its deep roots in tribal heritage, the community hardly takes a stand against the intruders —against new laws as well as new religion. What accounts for this lack of community opposition? Was Igbo society more receptive and adaptable than it appeared to be? The lack of strong initial resistance may also come from the fact that the Igbo society does not foster strong central leadership. This quality encourages individual initiative toward recognition and achievement but also limits timely decision-making and the authority-backed actions needed on short notice to maintain its integrity and welfare. Whatever the reason —perhaps a 

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apartcombination of these reasons —the British culture and its code of behavior, ambitious for its goals of native "enlightenment" as well as of British self-enrichment, begin to encroach upon the existing Igbo culture and its corresponding code of behavior.A factor that hastens the decline of the traditional Igbo society is their custom of marginalizing some of their people —allowing the existence of an outcast group and keeping women subservient in their household and community involvement, treating them as property, and accepting physical abuse of them somewhat lightly. When representatives of a foreign culture (beginning with Christian missionaries) enter Igbo territory and accept these marginalized people —including the twins —at their full human value, the Igbo's traditional shared leadership finds itself unable to control its whole population. The lack of a clear, sustaining center of authority in Igbo society may be the quality that decided Achebe to draw his title from the Yeats poem, "The Second Coming." The key phrase of the poems reads, "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold."Underlyingthe aforementioned cultural themes is a theme of fate, or destiny. This theme is also played at the individual and societal levels. In the story, readers are frequently reminded about this theme in references to chi, the individual's personal god as well as his ultimate capability and destiny. Okonkwo, at his best, feels that his chisupports his ambition: "When a man says yes, his chi says yes also" (Chapter 4). At his worst, Okonkwo feels that his chi has let him down: His chi "was not made for great things. A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi....Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation" (Chapter 14).At the societal level, the Igbos' lack of a unifying self-image and centralized leadership as well as their weaknessin the treatment of some of their own people —both previously discussed —suggest the inevitable fate of becoming victim to colonization by a power eager to exploit its resources.In addition to the three themes discussed in this essay, the thoughtful reader will probably be able to identify other themes in the novel: for example, the universality of human motives and emotions across cultures and time, and the need for balance between individual needs and community needs.

Powerful Tools for Teaching and Learning: Web 2.0 Tools

                         



What are Web 2.0 Tools?

These tools are internet tools that allow the user to go beyond just receiving information through the web. The user is expected to interact and to create content with others. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are examples of Web 2.0 tools. Web tools can be used to enhance teaching and collaboration among teachers and students as well as increase professional collaboration between educators.

 Free Mobile Apps to Help You Learn English

• Hello English. This is my first recommendation for anyone looking to improve their English. ...
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• Lingbe. Both Duolingo and Hello English can help you learn English and improve it. ...
• Memrise. ...
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• Learn English Daily. ...
• Beelinguapp.

Learn English Daily

This app follows a simple approach to learning English by listening and speaking. The app consists of thousands of words and phrases narrated by native speakers.

You can listen to those phrases to improve your pronunciation and memorize them. It also notifies you to speak sentences every day to keep your English fluent.

                    

Beelinguapp

Beelinguapp uses audiobooks to help you learn different languages. You just have to listen to stories and novels in the language you want to learn and side by side read the text in your native language.

Audiobooks lovers will surely love this app as they can listen to audiobooks of their interest and at the same time learn a new language. There are many free audio books to hone your English skills, but some are paid.

                                   

                         

English Speaking Practice

It’s a practicing tool to help you improve your pronunciation and create confidence to have a conversation in English. The app has hundreds of recorded conversations where you can listen to native speakers and then speak and record yourself.

You can listen to yourself and a native speaker to compare and improve your pronunciation.

        

                           

Awabe

A completely free app that helps you learn over 4000 common phrases and vocabularies. The app works completely offline and there is tons of data to improve your English. The app offers translations, audio and video lessons, and a bunch of language learning games. You’ll also get daily speaking, listening, and memorizing tests that ensure your skills stay fluent.

                                 

How Literature shaped me ?

                       

What is literature ?

This is very basic question for the students of literature. While studying literature, teachers' and students are mostly concerned on the language rather then understanding, because literature is most generally made by language. In English literature, students are actually not aware with the concept of literature, but they are more interested in learning English language.

Most of the students have a basic understanding of literature that "It is the mirror of society". Mirror never reflects the real image of a person or a thing. It is a mere inverted image. However, literature reflects society in a bit different way. It can be considered as an x-ray image of society, which represents the the harsh reality and real image of society. Literature is of two kinds, first is the books and and paper one can buy from the shop and second is when a person experiences the lives hidden in the books. When a person feels the happiness and pain of different characters from the books, and its creates a different point of view of a person towards the literature.

Literature can be considered as a "Change" in us after its understanding. All can read literature but only few can feel and understand it. When we feel the conflict of Hamlet towards his life and when we understand the philosophical point of view of grave digging scene' we real understood it, that understanding changes our way of thinking. That change is not permanent but it leaves its effects in our mind. Literature contains various way of thinking in one piece of art! It has the villain like lago and the passionate hero like Othello. It contains a housewife like Mrs. Ramsay and a girl with freethinking like Lily Briscoe. It contains absurdity and nothingness like meaninglessness of Vladimir and Estragon's life and their condition. It contains Frankenstein's innocent monster and Edger Allan Poe's evilest and harmful humans. It gives us numerous ways of living life. It gives us each characters way of thinking and understanding of way they are behaving in a particular manner.

All these experiences can change us. We live thousand times in one life through literature. It attacks harshly and brutally kills our beautiful dreams( illusion) of life. Literature hurts our ego, and heals our hearts. It criticises us, and admires, but ultimately, it changes us.

No one can bind literature in any particular definition because it is made from language and as "Derrida said " Language bears within itself the necessity of its own critique". 

Literature is not easy to define in language but we can feel it, understand it, and express it through emotions. Catharsis is the way of getting literature. It changes us. By each reading, we can get the different essence of each subject. As it is said that by reading literature, one can read about people, he/she could never be, and adventures he/she would never have.

How Literature Shaped me....?

Yes, Literature shapes,  I have seen the changes in me. Like, one needs to be thinking man. 

Not only thinking but makes us ready  to be more onus. Theories of existentialism makes this life more interesting to live. It teaches the importance of choice. Most importantly , it gives a new way of life by creating the better human being.

Moby Dick

                                                 

                                            Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship Pequod, for revenge on Moby Dick, the giant white sperm whale that on the ship's previous voyage bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. Wikipedia.

Herman Melville 

                                                              

                                              Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are his magnum opus, Moby-Dick, and Typee, a romantic account of his experiences of Polynesian life. Melville was born in New York City, the third child of a merchant. Wikipedia.

• Moby Dick Summary

                                            The novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville is an epic tale of the voyage of the whaling ship the Pequod and its captain, Ahab, who relentlessly pursues the great Sperm Whale (the title character) during a journey around the world. The narrator of the novel is Ishmael, a sailor on the Pequod who undertakes the journey out of his affection for the sea.

                                             Moby Dick begins with Ishmael's arrival in New Bedford as he travels toward Nantucket. He rests at the Spouter Inn in New Bedford, where he meets Queequeg, a harpooner from New Zealand who will also sail on the Pequod. Although Queequeg appears dangerous, he and Ishmael must share a bed together and the narrator quickly grows fond of the somewhat uncivilized harpooner. Queequeg is actually the son of a High Chief who left New Zealand because of his desire to learn among Christians. The next day, Ishmael attends a church service and listens to a sermon by Father Mapple, a renowned preacher who delivers a sermon considering Jonah and the whale that concludes that the tale is a lesson to preacher Truth in the face of Falsehood.

                                           On a schooner to Nantucket, Ishmael and Queequeg come across a local bumpkin who mocks Queequeg. However, when this bumpkin is swept overboard, Queequeg saves him. In Nantucket, Queequeg and Ishmael choose between three ships for a year journey, and decide upon the Pequod. The Captain of the Pequod, Peleg, is now retired, and merely owns the boat with another Quaker, Bildad. Peleg tells them of the new captain, Ahab, and immediately describes him as a grand and ungodly man. Before leaving for their voyage, Ishmael and Queequeg come across a stranger named Elijah who predicts disaster on their journey. Before leaving on the Pequod, Elijah again predicts disaster.

                                     Ishmael and Queequeg board the Pequod, where Captain Ahab is still unseen, secluded in his own cabin. Peleg and Bildad consult with Starbuck, the first mate. He is a Quaker and a Nantucket native who is quite practical. The second mate is Stubb, a Cape Cod native with a more jovial and carefree attitude. The third is Flask, a Martha's Vineyard native with a pugnacious attitude. Melville introduces the rest of the crew, including the Indian harpooner Tashtego, the African harpooner Daggoo.

                                  Several days into the voyage, Ahab finally appears as a man seemingly made of bronze who stands on an ivory leg fashioned from whalebone. He eventually gets into a violent argument with Stubb when the second mate makes a joke at Ahab's expense, and kicks him. This leads Stubb to dream of kicking Ahab's ivory leg off, but Flask claims that the kick from Ahab is a sign of honor.

                               At last, Ahab tells the crew of the Pequod to look for a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow: Moby Dick, the legendary whale that took Ahab's leg. Starbuck tells Ahab that his obsession with Moby Dick is madness, but Ahab claims that all things are masks and there is some unknown reasoning behind that mask that man must strike through. For Ahab, Moby Dick is that mask. Ahab himself seems to recognize his own madness. Starbuck begins to worry that the ship is overmatched by the mad captain and knows that he will see an impious end to Ahab.

                            While Queequeg and Ishmael weave a sword-mat for lashing to their boat, the Pequod soon comes upon a whale and Ahab orders his crew to their boats. Ahab orders his special crew, which Ishmael compares to "phantoms," to their boats. The crew attacks a whale and Queequeg does strike it, but this is insufficient to kill it. Among the "phantoms" in the boat is Fedallah, a sinister Parsee.

                                 After passing the Cape of Good Hope, the Pequod comes across the Goney (Albatross), another ship on its voyage. Ahab asks whether they have seen Moby Dick as the ships pass one another, but Ahab cannot hear his answer. The mere passing of the ships is unorthodox behavior, for ships will generally have a 'gam,' a meeting between two ships. The Pequod does have a gam with the next ship it encounters, the Town-Ho.

                                      Ishmael interrupts his narration to tell a story that was told to him by the crew of the Town-Ho, just as he would tell it to a circle of Spanish friends after his journey on the Pequod. The story concerns the near mutiny on the Town-Ho and its eventual conflict with Moby Dick.

                                   The Pequod does vanquish the next whale that it comes across, as Stubb strikes a whale with his harpoon. However, as the crew of the Pequod attempts to bring the whale into the ship, sharks attack the carcass and Queequeg nearly loses his hand while fending them off.

                            The Pequod next comes upon the Jeroboam, a Nantucket ship afflicted with an epidemic. Stubb later tells a story about the Jeroboam and a mutiny that occurred on this ship because of a Shaker prophet, Gabriel, on board. The captain of the Jeroboam, Mayhew, warns Ahab about Moby Dick.

                                After vanquishing a Sperm Whale, Stubb next also kills a Right Whale. Although this is not on the ship's agenda, the Pequod pursues a Right Whale because of the good omens associated with having the head of a Sperm Whale and a head of a Right Whale on a ship. Stubb and Flask discuss rumors that Ahab has sold his soul to Fedallah.

                               The next ship that the Pequod meets is the Jungfrau (Virgin), a German ship in desperate need of oil. The Pequod competes with the Virgin for a large whale, and the Pequod is successful in defeating it. However, the whale carcass begins to sink as the Pequod attempts to secure it and thus the Pequod must abandon it. The Pequod next finds a large group of Sperm Whales and injures several of them, but only captures a single one.

                                Stubb concocts a plan to swindle the next ship that the Pequod meets, the French ship Bouton-de-Rose (Rosebud), of ambergris. Stubb tells them that the whales that they have vanquished are useless and could damage their ship, and when the Rosebud leaves these behind the Pequod takes them in order to gain the ambergris in one of them.

                            Several days after encountering the Rosebud, a young black man on the boat, Pippin, becomes frightened while lowering after a whale and jumps from the boat, becoming entangled in the whale line. Stubb chastises him for his cowardice and tells him that he will be left at sea if he jumps again. When Pippin (Pip) does the same thing again, Stubb remains true to his word and Pip only survives because a nearby boat saves him. Nevertheless, Pip loses his sanity from the event.

                                      The next ship that the Pequod encounters, a British ship called the Samuel Enderby, bears news of Moby Dick but its crewman Dr. Bunger warns Ahab to leave the whale alone. Later, Ahab's leg breaks and the carpenter must fix it. Ahab behaves scornfully toward the carpenter. When Starbuck learns that the casks have sprung a leak, he goes to Ahab's cabin to report the news. Ahab disagrees with Starbuck's advice on the matter, and becomes so enraged that he pulls a musket on Starbuck. Although Ahab warns Starbuck that there is but one God on Earth and one Captain on the Pequod, Starbuck tells him that he will be no danger to Ahab, for Ahab is sufficient danger to himself. Ahab does relent to Starbuck's advice.

                                 Queequeg becomes ill from fever and seems to approach death, so he asks for a canoe to serve as a coffin. The carpenter measures Queequeg for his coffin and builds it, but Queequeg returns to health, claiming that he willed his own recovery. Queequeg keeps the coffin and uses it as a sea chest.

                                  Upon reaching the Pacific Ocean, Ahab asks Perth the blacksmith to forge a harpoon to use against Moby Dick. Perth fashions a harpoon that Ahab demands be tempered with the blood of his pagan harpooners, and he howls out that he baptizes the harpoon in the name of the devil.

                       The next ship that the Pequod meets is the Bachelor, a Nantucket ship whose captain denies the existence of Moby Dick. The next day, the Pequod slays four whales, and that night Ahab dreams of hearses. He and Fedallah pledge to slay Moby Dick and survive the conflict, and Ahab boasts of his own immortality.

                       Ahab must soon decide between an easy route past the Cape of Good Hope back to Nantucket and a difficult route in pursuit of Moby Dick. Ahab easily chooses to continue his quest. The Pequod soon comes upon a typhoon on its journey in the Pacific, and while battling this storm the Pequod's compass moves out of alignment. When Starbuck learns this and goes to Ahab's cabin to tell him, he finds the old man asleep. Starbuck considers shooting Ahab with his musket, but he cannot move himself to shoot his captain after he hears Ahab cry in his sleep "Moby Dick, I clutch thy heart at last."

                               The next morning after the typhoon, Ahab corrects the problem with the compass despite the skepticism of his crew and the ship continues on its journey. Ahab learns that Pip has gone insane and offers his cabin to the poor boy. The Pequod comes upon yet another ship, the Rachel, whose captain, Gardiner, knows Ahab. He requests the Pequod's help in searching for Gardiner's son, who may be lost at sea, but Ahab flatly refuses when he learns that Moby Dick is nearby. The final ship that the Pequod meets is the Delight, a ship that has recently come upon Moby Dick and has nearly been destroyed by its encounter with the whale. Before finally finding Moby Dick, Ahab reminisces about the day nearly forty years before in which he struck his first whale, and laments the solitude of his years out on the sea. He admits that he has chased his prey as more of a demon than a man.

                      The struggle against Moby Dick lasts three days. On the first day, Ahab spies the whale himself, and the whaling boats row after it. Moby Dick attacks Ahab's boat, causing it to sink, but Ahab survives the ordeal when he reaches Stubb's boat. Despite this first failed attempt at defeating the whale, Ahab pursues him for a second day. On the second day of the chase, roughly the same defeat occurs. This time Moby Dick breaks Ahab's ivory leg, while Fedallah dies when he becomes entangled in the harpoon line and is drowned. After this second attack, Starbuck chastises Ahab, telling him that his pursuit is impious and blasphemous. Ahab declares that the chase against Moby Dick is immutably decreed, and pursues it for a third day.

                       On the third day of the attack against Moby Dick, Starbuck panics for ceding to Ahab's demands, while Ahab tells Starbuck that "some ships sail from their ports and ever afterwards are missing," seemingly admitting the futility of his mission. When Ahab and his crew reach Moby Dick, Ahab finally stabs the whale with his harpoon but the whale again tips Ahab's boat. However, the whale rams the Pequod and causes it to begin sinking. In a seemingly suicidal act, Ahab throws his harpoon at Moby Dick but becomes entangled in the line and goes down with it. Only Ishmael survives this attack, for he was fortunate to be on a whaling boat instead of on the Pequod. Eventually he is rescued by the Rachel as its captain continues his search for his missing son, only to find a different orphan.

• Critical Analysis

                            “Moby Dick is biographic of Melville in the sense that it discloses every nook and cranny of his imagination.” (Humford 41) This paper is a psychological study of Moby Dick. Moby Dick was written out of Melville’s person experiences. Moby Dick is a story of the adventures a person named Ishmael. Ishmael is a lonely, alienated individual who wants to see the “watery part of the world.” Moby Dick begins with the main character, Ishmael, introducing himself with the line “Call Me Ishmael.” (Melville 1)

                               Ishmael tells the reader about his background and creates a depressed mood for the reader. Call me Ishmael. “Some years ago-nevermind how long precisely- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.” (Melville 1) Ishmael tells the reader about his journeys through various towns such as New Bedford, Nankantuket. Eventually while in Nankantuket, Ishmael signed up for a whaling voyage on the Pequod. The Pequod was the whaling boat Ishmael sailed on where such characters as Queequeq, Starbuck, and the captain of the ship, Ahab, all journeyed together. Not long once at sea, the captain of the ship, Ahab reveals his plan to hunt down a white whale named Moby Dick. Ahab was veteran sailor, a man that had a heart of stone. Ahab had a personal grudge against Moby Dick. Moby Dick was responsible for taking off Ahab’s leg in a previous voyage. Ahab’s plan was essentially an unauthorized takeover, what the whaling company had not in mind. Ahab was very irrational and ludicrous; his plan seals the fate for himself and the crew of the Pequod. In the tragic ending of Moby Dick, all of the characters die except for Ishmael. Ishmael survived Moby Dick’s attack of the ship with the help of a coffin that his close friend Queequeq built. Ishmael of Moby Dick was a special character because he closely relates to the author’s own life. There are many symbolism’s between Ishmael of Moby Dick and Herman Melville’s own life. The name Ishmael can be traced back to the Bible. The Biblical story of Ishamel is one of a rejected outcast. This “rejected outcast” can be linked to Ishmael of Moby Dick and Herman Melville’s own life. In Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, Ishmael is symbolic of the author’s own life. Herman Melville’s childhood played an important part in his life. Herman Melville’s childhood is evident throughout his writings. Herman Melville’s childhood was an unconventional one. There were many twists and turns that Herman experienced. Melville was born on August 1, 1819, in New York City, the third of eight children. His mother’s families the Gansevoorts of Albany were Dutch brewers who settled in Albany in the seventeenth century achieving the status of landed gentry.

                             “The Gansevoorts were solid, stable, eminent, prosperous people; the (Herman’s Father’s side) Melvilles were somewhat less successful materially, possessng an unpredictable. erratic, mercurial strain.” (Edinger 6) This difference between the Melville’s and Gansevoorts was the beginning of the trouble for the Melville family. Herman’s mother tried to work her way up the social ladder by moving into bigger and better homes. While borrowing money from the bank, her husband was spending more than he was earning. “It is my conclusion that Maria Melville never committed herself emotionally to her husband, but remained primarily attached to the well off Gansevoort family.” (Humford 23) Allan Melville was also attached financially to the Gansevoorts for support. There is a lot of evidence concerning Melville’s relation to his mother Maria Melville. “Apparently the older son Gansevoort who carried the mother’s maiden name was distinctly her favorite.” (Edinger 7) This was a sense of alienation the Herman Melville felt from his mother. This was one of the first symbolists to the Biblical Ishamel. The following are a few excerpts from some of Melville’s works that show evidence of his childhood. A passage from Melville’s Redburn shows that Melville was attached to his mother, “The name of the mother was the centre of all my hearts finest feelings.” (Melville 33) The following poem that Melville wrote shows his unreciprocated love for his mother. I made the junior feel his place Subserve the senior, love him too; And soothe he does, and that is his saving grace But me the meek one never can serve, Hot he, he lacks quality keen, To make the mother through the soon, An envied dame of power a social queen. (Melville 211) Herman’s father’s side originally Scots with connections in the peerage, were Boston merchants.

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy


                                                            


Thomas Hardy OM was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, especially William Wordsworth. Wikipedia





                                                  

Far from the Madding Crowd is Thomas Hardy's fourth novel and his first major literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. The novel is the first to be set in Thomas Hardy's Wessex in rural southwest England. Wikipedia

Summary

At the beginning of the novel, Bathsheba Everdene is a beautiful young woman without a fortune. She meets Gabriel Oak, a young farmer, and saves his life one evening. He asks her to marry him, but she refuses because she does not love him. Upon inheriting her uncle's prosperous farm she moves away to the town of Weatherbury.

A disaster befalls Gabriel's farm and he loses his sheep; he is forced to give up farming. He goes looking for work, and in his travels finds himself in Weatherbury. After rescuing a local farm from fire he asks the mistress if she needs a shepherd. It is Bathsheba, and she hires him. As Bathsheba learns to manage her farm she becomes acquainted with her neighbor, Mr. Boldwood, and on a whim sends him a valentine with the words "Marry me." Boldwood becomes obsessed with her and becomes her second suitor. Rich and handsome, he has been sought after by many women. Bathsheba refuses him because she does not love him, but she then agrees to reconsider her decision.

That very night, Bathsheba meets a handsome soldier, Sergeant Troy. Unbeknownst to Bathsheba, he has recently impregnated a local girl, Fanny Robin, and almost married her. Troy falls in love with Bathsheba, enraging Boldwood. Bathsheba travels to Bath to warn Troy of Boldwood's anger, and while she is there, Troy convinces her to marry him. Gabriel has remained her friend throughout and does not approve of the marriage. A few weeks after his marriage to Bathsheba, Troy sees Fanny, poor and sick; she later dies giving birth to her child. Bathsheba discovers that Troy is the father. Grief-stricken at Fanny's death and riddled with shame, Troy runs away and is thought to have drowned.

With Troy supposedly dead, Boldwood becomes more and more emphatic about Bathsheba marrying him. Troy sees Bathsheba at a fair and decides to return to her. Boldwood holds a Christmas, to which he invites Bathsheba and again proposes marriage; just after she has agreed, Troy arrives to claim her. Bathsheba screams, and Boldwood shoots Troy dead. He is sentenced to life in prison. A few months later, Bathsheba marries Gabriel, now a prosperous bailiff.

Far from the Madding Crowd Themes

Love

Love is a major theme of the novel; in fact, the plot revolves around Bathsheba trying to understand what love truly is, and what type of man is worthy of giving her love to. Each of her suitors represents a different kind of love. Boldwood offers a love that is intense, obsessive, and functions like a form of ownership; he tries to buy her love with luxurious goods and promises of sharing in his prosperity. Troy offers her a passionate, sexually charged love that is very pleasurable in the short term but quickly fades away, and is not substantiated with long-term devotion or compatibility. It is Gabriel who offers her a quiet, unassuming, but steadfast and reliable love that will endure through problems and challenges. As Bathsheba matures, she comes to realize what real love is, and that Gabriel is the best partner for her.

Independence

Bathsheba is determined to assert her independence; she knows that many people assume that because she is a woman, she needs to get married and have a husband to help her with the farm. Bathsheba rejects the idea of marrying out of social convention; when Gabriel first proposes, she makes it clear that she only wants to marry for love. Through hard work and intelligence, she is fairly successful at proving that she can successfully manage her own farm as an independent woman. However, Bathsheba’s ideal of independence is a bit of an illusion, since while she thinks she is taking care of everything, she is actually dependent on Gabriel’s help the entire time. If he had abandoned her or refused to help her during crises like the sheep getting poisoned or the storm breaking out on the night of the harvest supper, she could have been ruined.

Deceit

Deceit is an important theme since various characters create unfortunate situations through a lack of honesty. Bathsheba unleashes a long and tragic series of events through the simple and playful deception of sending Boldwood a valentine and misleading him about her feelings. Later, Troy repeatedly tricks and deceives characters around him, especially Bathsheba. He does not reveal the nature of his relationship with Fanny, and when he returns from America, he disguises his identity at the fair. The scale of deceit ranges from relatively harmless to very serious, and yet it always has negative consequences, showing that honesty and integrity are the ways to lead a happy life.

Reliability

The character who best exemplifies the theme of reliability is Gabriel. Whenever something goes wrong, he can be counted on to help out, and even though Bathsheba sometimes takes him for granted and mistreats him, he stands by her. Gabriel’s reliability is rewarded by the end of the novel in both his personal and professional life. His good reputation for his dedicated service to the Everdene farm allows him to lease Boldwood’s farm and hope for bright prospects as a farmer. Bathsheba realizes the value of his devoted love and agrees to marry him. However, Gabriel’s reliability is valuable because he is humble and giving. In contrast, Boldwood is also very consistent in his devoted love for Bathsheba, but he is demanding and insistent on trying to possess her, rather than being content to love and serve her faithfully even if she never returns his feelings.

Fate

While the novel explores the moral choices faced by various characters and the consequences of those choices, it is clear that not everything is under the control of individuals. Many of the characters seem to be ruled by fate and unable to escape from certain experiences or events. Even though Gabriel has made all the right decisions to advance his career at the start of the novel, he loses everything through a single ill-fated event. Bathsheba also experiences reversals of fate, as she goes from being financially destitute to being a wealthy heiress. Various chance encounters also bring the characters together, such as the accidental meetings of Gabriel and Bathsheba, and Bathsheba and Troy. This theme suggests that human lives play out amidst larger forces that they cannot control or predict.

Nature

Nature is a major theme in the novel, since the progress of the plot is closely tied to the passage of time, the change of seasons, and the rhythm of life on the farm. Cycles like the growing and harvesting of crops and the reproduction of the sheep structure the everyday lives of the characters and enable them to earn their livelihood. Gabriel's skill and success as a farmer stems from his ability to stay attuned to nature; other characters, like Troy, fail to appreciate nature and see it as something they can mostly ignore or exploit for profit.

Patience

Patience is shown as a virtue to be rewarded, even though it is not easy for characters to acquire. Gabriel takes a patient approach to his work, not being afraid of starting over and gradually progressing through his career. He also understands that doing farm tasks slowly and meticulously ensures they will be done well, and supports the success of the farm in the long run. He takes the same approach to his feelings for Bathsheba, remaining steadfastly loyal to her even though she sometimes takes him for granted and seems to have fallen in love with another man. Bathsheba does not naturally display as much patience since she likes to follow her impulses, but she gradually learns to appreciate a slower and more careful approach to life.

Work cite

https://www.gradesaver.com/far-from-the-madding-crowd/study-guide/themes

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison

                                                        




                                   Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Wikipedia

                                                               


                        The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, was the first novel written by author Toni Morrison. Morrison was an African-American novelist, a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner whose works are praised for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States. Wikipedia



Summary

Pecola’s story is told through the eyes of multiple narrators. The main narrator is Claudia MacTeer, a childhood friend with whom Pecola once lived. Claudia narrates from two different perspectives: the adult Claudia, who reflects on the events of 1940–41, and the nine-year-old Claudia, who observes the events as they happen.

In the first section of the novel (“Autumn”), nine-year-old Claudia introduces Pecola and explains why she is living with the MacTeers. Claudia tells the reader what her mother, Mrs. MacTeer, told her: Pecola is a “case…a girl who had no place to go.” The Breedloves are currently “outdoors,” or homeless, because Pecola’s father, Cholly, burned the family house down. The county placed Pecola with the MacTeer family until “they could decide what to do, or, more precisely, until the [Breedlove] family was reunited.”

Despite the tragic circumstances of their friendship, Claudia and her 11-year-old sister, Frieda, enjoy playing with Pecola. Frieda and Pecola bond over their shared love of Shirley Temple, a famous American child star known for her blonde curls, babyish singing, and tap-dancing with Bill (“Bojangles”) Robinson. Claudia, however, “couldn’t join them in their adoration because [she] hated Shirley.” In fact, she hated “all the Shirley Temples of the world.” The adult Claudia recalls being given a blue-eyed baby doll for Christmas:

From the clucking sounds of adults I knew that the doll represented what they thought was my fondest wish...all the world had agreed that a blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned doll was what every girl child treasured. “Here,” they said, “this is beautiful, and if you are on this day ‘worthy’ you may have it.”

Claudia remembers dismembering the doll “to see of what it was made, to discover the dearness, to find the beauty, the desirability that had escaped me, but apparently only me.” Finding nothing special at its core, Claudia discarded the doll and continued on her path of destruction, her hatred of little white girls unabated.

The second section (“Winter”) consists of two short vignettes. The first of these is narrated by Claudia, and in it she documents Pecola’s fascination with a light-skinned black girl by the name of Maureen Peal. Friendly at first, Maureen ultimately humiliates Pecola and her friends by declaring herself “cute” and Pecola “ugly.” The second vignette, narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator, focuses on Geraldine and Louis Junior, a young mother and son in Lorain, Ohio. Geraldine and Junior’s connection to Pecola is not immediately obvious; she does not appear until the end of the vignette. On a particularly boring afternoon, Junior entices Pecola into his house. After she comes inside, he throws his mother’s beloved cat at her face. Scratched and verging on tears, Pecola attempts to leave. Junior stops her, claiming she is his “prisoner.” Junior then picks up his mother’s cat and begins swinging it around his head. In an effort to save it, Pecola grabs his arm, causing them both to fall to the ground. The cat, released in mid-motion, is thrown full-force at the window. At this point Geraldine appears, and Junior promptly tells her that Pecola has killed the cat. Geraldine calls Pecola a “nasty little black bitch” and orders her to leave.

The third section of the novel (“Spring”) is by far the longest, comprising four vignettes. In the first vignette, Claudia and Frieda talk about how Mr. Henry—a guest staying with the MacTeers—“picked at” Frieda, inappropriately touching her while her parents were outside. After Frieda told her mother, her father “threw our old tricycle at [Mr. Henry’s] head and knocked him off the porch.” Frieda tells Claudia she fears she might be “ruined,” and they set off to find Pecola. In the second and third vignettes, the reader learns about Pecola’s parents, Pauline (Polly) and Cholly Breedlove. According to the omniscient narrator, Polly and Cholly once loved each other. They were married at a relatively young age and migrated together from Kentucky to Lorain. Over the years, their relationship steadily deteriorated. One disappointment followed another, and sustained poverty, ignorance, and fear took steep tolls on their well-being. At the end of the third vignette—just before the events of the first section begin—Cholly drunkenly stumbles into his kitchen, where he finds Pecola washing dishes. Overwhelmed by conflicting feelings of tenderness and rage, Cholly rapes Pecola and leaves her unconscious body on the floor for Polly to find.

The fourth vignette picks up not long after the rape. It begins by delving into the personal history of Soaphead Church, a misanthropic Anglophile and self-proclaimed spiritual healer. Soaphead is a deceptive and conniving man; as the narrator observes, he comes from a long line of similarly ambitious and corrupt West Indians. His latest scheme involves interpreting dreams and performing so-called “miracles” for the black community in Lorain. When Pecola goes to him asking for blue eyes, Soaphead initially sympathizes.

Soaphead forms a plan to trick Pecola. He gives her a piece of raw meat and demands that she give it to his property owner’s dog. If the dog “behaves strangely,” he tells her, her “wish will be granted on the day following this one.” Unbeknownst to Pecola, the meat is poisoned. After the dog eats the meat, gags, and dies, Pecola believes her wish has been granted. Thus begins her sharp descent into madness.

The fourth and final section (“Summer”) takes place after Pecola loses her mind. In the beginning, Claudia and Frieda learn that Pecola has been impregnated by her father. The sisters hope that the baby will not die; they pray for it and even offer a sacrifice (a bicycle) to God. Meanwhile, Pecola converses with an unidentified person—presumably, herself—about her new blue eyes, which she still thinks “aren’t blue enough.” In the final moments of the novel, the adult Claudia tells the reader that Pecola gave birth prematurely and the baby did not survive.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Bluest-Eye

The Bluest Eye Themes

Appearances. In The Bluest Eye, characters associate beauty with whiteness. ...

Race. Whiteness in The Bluest Eye is associated with beauty, innocence, goodness, cleanliness, and purity. ...

Women and Femininity. ...

Jealousy. ...

Society and Class. ...

Love. ...

Sex. ...

Innocence.

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