1. Why Hedda Gabler and not Hedda Tesman?
Hedda belongs to the bourgeois class of her society. Using Hedda Gabler instead of Hedda Tesman is meant to show the audience how Ibsen's main protagonist prefers to identify herself. Hedda is the daughter of a general who ends up marrying into a lower class thereby lowering her social status. However, she still wants to identify herself as an aristocrat. People in Hedda's society enjoy privileges according to their social status. Belonging to the bourgeois class means that she does not enjoy as many benefits as she would enjoy under the care of her father (Sweeney 78). Losing her birthright leaves her unsettled and yearning for better things. She is not sure that getting married to Tesman was a good decision. Her husband does not observe sophisticated mannerisms like her aristocrat family did. It bothers Hedda so much that she becomes repulsed by the man. This serves to push her further away from wanting to identify with her husband.
Using a different last name helps her distance herself from what she considers an unsophisticated class in society. Ibsen's use of Hedda Gabler instead of Hedda Tesman is also meant to show that this work is not made to present the story of a married person. She was not comfortable with the practices of people whose social class fell below hers but strangely enough, she gets married to such a person. Her marriage only serves to increase her resentment of such people. Hedda is an isolated person who now feels regretful about a crucial decision in her life. She tries to take charge of the situation by making any adjustments possible to make her life better, even using her aristocratic last name.
2. Romanticism in “The Lake Isle of Innisfree"
Yeats is fond of using imagery in his works. This one was no different. Its title by itself leads the audience into romantic scenery. Lakes are usually presented as places of calmness and serenity. Add an isle to that during a sunset and you have a romantic setting for any moment. Yeats plants the idea of a romantic environment in his reader's mind but does not give everything away; he leaves some room for the reader to explore Romanticism through their imagination.
The obsession with the aisle is another feature that Yeats uses to show romance. Love in extreme cases can become obsession and people end up doing romantic things to earn the affection of the person they love. The character finds peace at the aisle. It is evident that Yeats has perfected the art of merging imagery and symbolism. The aisle by the lake presents a romantic gesture for somebody who intends to propose to or even marry another. The character may have been trying to indicate that he will find happiness once he finds somebody who can love him. It is also an indication of how obsessed a lonely person can be when looking for love.
Another feature of Yeats' poem that he uses to bring out romance is his contrasting approach. He openly presents his love for country life but at the same time shows that urban life is not that bad either. His use of contrasting themes is meant to show that opposites attract and even the two most different people can build a strong bond between them. However, Yeats also believes that romance should happen without restriction. He believes that the grass is often greener on the other side. He, therefore, believes that romance should not be static but that people should explore it to the fullest. Another manifestation of romance in this poem is the character's yearning for something better. Love is often associated with a longing for something which is difficult but achievable if a person applies the appropriate level of effort. The manner in which Yeats presents this yearning leaves the readers longing for something themselves.
Love is also associated with fantasy and Yeats' character finds it difficult to achieve the reality that he desires. He, therefore, ends up living in a world of fantasy with his reality being quite different from what he wants it to be. Romanticism and the romantic's perception of thing are evident in this poem.
3. Kafka's perception of the family and society
Kafka believes that he is applying a realistic approach to his perception of society. To another person, his approach seems pessimistic. Kafka observes that society is operating on inappropriate moral standards. From his perspective, transformation happens when one is alone when a person can get into deep thought with themselves. How the family reacts to the transformation is an indication of how society will view it as well. That is because family is the centerpiece of society. The combination of many families and their values is what eventually transforms into society. Therefore, an individual's transformation affects both their family and society, although not in equal measure. However, one thing is evident, both family and society are intolerant to people who are not like them. The family may try to be tolerant of the different features of one of their members but only to a certain level. Once that limit is reached, they find a person unacceptable.
On the other hand, if an individual does not fit in, society reserves the right to flat out reject them. Society does not feel obliged to tolerate a person; rather, the person has to tolerate what they find unbearable about society. According to Kafka, love is what makes a person's family tolerate their differences, but when it reaches a point where they care much about what society thinks about them, they will reject the different person.
In conclusion, Kafka believes that economics outweighs family ties and societal obligations. People love money more than they love people and would, therefore, be inclined to let a person suffer rather than have them interfere with their finances. Therefore, Society's and family's perceptions are distorted, and this bothers Kafka a lot.
4. Gabriel Garcia Marquez's importance in today's canon of world literature
Being a Nobel laureate is enough to make Marquez an iconic figure in world literature. However, his contributions in the field of literature go further than that. His book, A Hundred Years of Solitude made people see things from the perspective of the Native Americans who had been in servitude of European masters and suffered as a result. Marquez credits Franz Kafka as being a strong influence on him, thereby following in Kafka's tradition of giving a voice to those who did not have one. Kafka narrated a story of suffering that had been hidden from the world for long (Branigan 154). Kafka's book ended up being a wake-up call for other South American writers to write more books about the subject.
Many great minds and especially writers bear an interest in Philosophy and Marquez was no different. His expressed his views on self-pride and motivation. His intention was probably to encourage people and especially writers to be brave in their reporting at a time that was difficult for them. He had sayings like ”It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams" and "Nobody deserves your tears, but whoever deserves them will not make you cry." He was also a bit of a romantic, showing that through all the difficulties of life, there is always space for love. His writings incorporated most of the aspects of normal life showing that writers ought to have a balance in all the things that they feature in their works. Marquez's random style of writing made him unpredictable to the readers and very interesting. His omission of details in his writings was meant to change the status of his audience from a passive one to a participatory one.
Marquez made a further contribution to the field of literature through his interactions in the field of journalism. He loved being a journalist and openly declared his love for that field. As he progressed in his writing, his narrations leaned towards a realistic perspective. His experiences in collecting news stories provided the basis for what he narrated. In a time when his native Colombia was facing unimaginable violence, his stories featured the reality of what was happening. It was also very risky to be a journalist in his country, or even write something that could upset a powerful Colombian. However, his bravery pushed more writers to write even under intimidation. Marquez was a great revolutionary in the literary field both in South-America and worldwide.
Work Cited
Branigan-Sweeney, Anna. Viola and Hedda Gabler: A Character Study.F.A University of Wisconsin--Madison ,1991. Print.
