Passage

Page #

Journal

"To them pain and mishap present a far wider range of possibilities than gladness and enjoyment: their imagination is almost barren of the images that feed desire and hope, but is all overgrown by recollections that are a perpetual pasture to fear.”

3

(C) I feel like a lot of people are like this. People’s thoughts are often full of despair and failure rather than success and hard work. I think this mindset is encouraged in some ways because being proud of yourself or being notably successful can bring negative attention or can lead to a person being labeled braggy or boastful. There is a thin line between being successful and proud or successful and bragging about it and to avoid appearing as the latter people often bring themselves down and talk ill of themselves. 

“But about the Christmas of that fifteenth year, a second great change came over marner’s life, and his history became blent in a singular manner with his neighbors.” 

16

(Q) I find this sentence particularly confusing because I don’t understand how his history could be relevant to his neighbors’ lives. I thought he left the town he had trouble in started a new life. How could his history come back into play? 

“The idea of Marner’s money kept growing in vividness, now the want of it had become immediate; the prospect of having to make his appearance with the muddy boots of a pedestrian at Batherley, and to encounter the grinning queries of stable men, stood unpleasantly in the way of his impatience to be back at Raveloe and carry out his felicitous plan...”

28

(E) Dunsey’s character really shows in this passage. The ruling factors in Dunsey’s decisions aren’t morals or ethics, but rather appearance and judgement by others. Dunsey is very dependent on the approval of others and needs validation. He is also very self-centered and focuses on himself and his goals rather than others. Dunsey fails to consider how his actions may affect others, as demonstrated by his manipulation of his brother. 

“The sense of security more frequently springs from habit than from conviction, and for this reason it often subsists after such a change in the conditions as might have been expected to suggest alarm.”

32

(C) I think this passage is significant because it discusses comfort levels and the security bubbles we create around ourselves. As expressed in the passage, rather than make ourselves comfortable with change and with moving forward, we make ourselves comfortable with habits and traditions. It feels safer to stick with what we know than to try something new or to change something. 

“Favourable Chance is the god of all men who follow their own devices instead of obeying a law they believe in. Let even a polished man of these days get into a position he is ashamed to avow, and his mind will be bent on all the possible issues that may deliver him from the calculable results of that position. 

60

(Q) does this not assume that the person referred to has an established religion or government? 

(C) I found it interesting how god is undercase in this passage. This reminded me of Between the World and Me, where the author uppercased “the Dream”, which is not a proper noun. Authors express their opinions on topics by deciding whether or not to treat the word as a proper noun. In this case, the author is choosing to show that the god created by not obeying the law is not a true god or a god she believes in. 

“Godfrey Cass was looking forward to this New Year’s Eve with a foolish reckless longing, that made him half deaf to his importunate companion, Anxiety. ‘Dunsey will be coming home soon: there will be a great blow-up, and how will you bribe his spite to silence?’ said Anxiety.

73

(C) (R) Godfrey’s entire exchange with the character Anxiety was interesting to me because it was not unlike an exchange with another person, or a conscious. Godfrey struggled with the ramifications of his own actions and the actions of other characters, and struggled with accepting the outcome of the preceding events. I found this interesting because Anxiety was treated as a character with independent thoughts and opinions, which may be how anxiety manifests itself in people in real life, increasing self doubt and uncertainty, and creating worry and fear, even if the cause is unknown or not real. 

“For it would not have been possible for the Raveloe mind, without a peculiar revelation, to know that a clergyman should be a pale-faced memento of solemnities, instead of a reasonably faulty man whose exclusive authority to read prayers and preach, to christen, marry, and bury you, necessarily co-existed with the right to sell you the ground to be buried in and to take tithe in kind; on which last point, of course, there was a little grumbling, but not to the extent of irreligion- not of deeper significance than the grumbling at the rain, which was by no means accompanied with a spirit of impious defiance, but with a desire that the prayer for fine weather might be read forthwith. 

85-86

(E)(C) The entire town of Raveloe is unquestioningly committed to the religion, even when it violates their wishes. They accept the actions of the church as uncontrollable and inevitable, like rain. The full power of the clergyman is shown here. The clergymen have control over the beginnings and ends of religious life, a powerful position in a town like Raveloe. I think that unquestioningly believing and accepting the actions of others can be dangerous and may come into play later in the book. 

“ ‘Ah,’ said Dolly, with soothing gravity, ‘it’s like the night and the morning, and the sleeping and the waking, and the rain and the harvest- one goes and the other comes, and we know nothing about how nor where. We may strive and scrat and fend, but it’s little we can do arter all- the big things come and go wi’ no striving o’ our’n- they do, that they do; and I think you’re in the right on it to keep the little un, Master Marner, seeing as it’s been sent to you, though there’s folks as thinks different.”

102

(E) This passage allows us to better understand Dolly and how she views the world. She views everything as a balance. In her mind, Silas losing the money is directly related to him gaining the child. His unhappiness and happiness are also opposites accompanying these actions. She listed parallel and opposite events to demonstrate to Silas that some events just have to happen, and that for one to happen, the other must as well. As well as express how the world is balanced, I think Dolly is trying to express that Silas will benefit from the child’s appearance and that the wrong he suffered will be righted by the child. She was trying to explain to him her view of the world and of the greater good that can sometimes come from less than ideal situations, like Silas’. 

“Silas had taken to smoking a pipe daily during the last two years, having been strongly urged to it by the sages of Ravelow, as a practice ‘good for the fits’; and this advice was sanctioned by Dr Kimble, on the ground that it was as well to try what could do no harm- a principle which was made to answer for a great deal of work in that gentleman’s medical practice.”

118

(C) This passage demonstrates just how much some things have both changed and stayed the same as time has passed. On the one hand, smoking is now known to have potentially dangerous side effects and is not prescribed or suggested by doctors. On the other hand, we still assume that because we have no knowledge to the contrary, some things must be absolute. This is demonstrated in the book because since they didn’t know there were dangerous side effects, they believed there couldn’t be. We have often assumed that and time and time again something goes wrong. This is evidenced through the various struggles the world goes through as we deal with the ramifications of our previous actions. 

“It was as necessary to her mind to have an opinion on all topics, not exclusively masculine, that had come under her notice, as for her to have a precisely marked place for every article of her personal property: and her opinions were always principles to be unwaveringly acted on.”

129- 130

(E) I believe Nancy has an opionon on every topic because she is afraid not to. As much as Nancy likes to act aloof and care free, Nancy cares very much about how her character is reflected. Nancy attempts to guarantee she is remembered by inserting strong opinions throughout her conversations. She holds strong to her opinions in an attempt to dignify her character and opinions and validate her presence in the conversation.