Hedda Tesman (A I and II)

     Hedda Gabler is a strange story about a strange woman.  More than just strange, I would go so far as to say, I believe Hedda to be literally insane.  Hedda is complicated, intelligent, controlling, manipulative, and mad.
     While she clearly seems to be the most intelligent person in the play, even surrounded by learned men, she also displays some rather eccentric tendencies.  We do not gain insight into the thoughts of Hedda, due to this being a play, not a story.  When Hedda pretends to shoot at Brock, it may be jocular in nature - but it could be pointing to an underlying mental brake down.
     She seems to have little in the way of interest - except for control.  Perhaps this is based on a lack of control over her own mind - this lack of control in herself is causing her to want to control others.  The relationships she has are not strictly sexual - nor do they seem to be based on how she appreciated or likes others - but instead based solely on her ability to control another person.  For instance, she does not marry for happiness or benefit, but apparently because Tesman is easy to control and manipulate.
     Her madness seems to also manifest itself in an inability to actually care about anything.  She remains unhappy, despite having everything she wants, and a large amount of control over the people (especially men) around her.

Barbarian

     Often we think of the past with rose colored glasses.  "The 1920's must have been so fun!" or "I wish I could have lived when art was so great in the renaissance period!"  Barbarian, by Arthur Rimbaud uses repetition and harsh contrast to remind us of the difference between oft false ideas we have of the past.
     Throughout the poem we see very different ideas contrasted - soft, feminine and idealized views of the past, with harsh, grotesque views of the same past.  Words like "raw meat" sitting directly next to "silk of seas."  These images are repeated, bringing to mind very contradictory ideas of the same events.
     The author also uses repetition of words like "Bliss!"  The repeated nature of positive ideas does not remove the negative imagery "wind of diamonds," "veering of chasms" or "white tears boiling."  This is an accurate representation of how we think of the past - no matter how much we try to sugar coat and remember things differently, the pains of the past still exist,


Long after the days and the seasons, and people and countries. 
The banner of raw meat against the silk of seas and arctic flowers; 
(they do not exist). Recovered from the old fanfares of heroism,-- 
which still attack the heart and head,-- far from the old assassins. 
-- Oh! the banner of raw meat against the silk of seas and arctic flowers; 
(they do not exist).-- Bliss! Live embers raining in gusts of frost.-- 
Bliss!-- fires in the rain of the wind of diamonds
flung out by the earth's heart eternally carbonized for us.
-- O world! (Far from the old retreats and the old flames, still heard, still felt.) 
Fire and foam. Magic, veering of chasms and clash of icicles against the stars. 
O bliss, O world, O music! And forms, sweat, eyes 
and long hair floating there. And white tears boiling,-- 
O bliss!-- and the feminine voice reaching to the bottom of volcanoes 
and grottos of the arctic seas. The banner... 

God sees the truth

     Sometimes I read a story or poem or piece of writing, and I think "wow, this has so many awesome points."  These types often keep me bouncing around from idea to idea, wondering and thinking about new concepts.  These types of literature are cool, well written and can act as a catalyst for change.  In "God Sees the Truth but Waits" there is one line that stuck out to me.  The story did not have me bouncing around thinking about ideas, but instead had me stuck on a single thing, a phrase the main character says at the end of the story.
     The phrase is "maybe I am 100 times worse than you."  Interestingly, the main character declares that the murdered who condemned him to 26 years in prison (after trying to kill him), might not be as bad a person as he was.  Is this a revelation to his personal character?  What he might have done if he had not been put in prison?  We see no reason to think that, based on evidence early in the story.  Perhaps instead, this is a revelation of fate.
     The main character, if having lived the same life as Makar, may have lived to be worse.  Fate is cruel, and weird.  Who knows why events are played out the way they are.  Life isn't fair, and there is no reason to believe that it would be.  Who knows how much worse I might have been, if our roles had been reversed.
      After living his life with so much hatred and anger, Aksinov reached a level of contentedness in the last part of his life by settling on one simple truth, "maybe I am 100 times worse than you."  This phrase and this concept has been the one lingering piece that stays.  Where other artists may have given me many concepts, Tolstoy leaves me one - without rhyme or reason, life is unfair.