Author: victoria2497

Part 2

I’ve finally done it. I have her. I’ve been watching her for months now. That beautiful chestnut brown hair of hers. I had a difficult time trying to get close to her. That’s why I have my safe. It is my most prized possession. Everyday after work, I open my safe to marvel at her.  I have pictures of her, old coffee cups, and a hair tie full of hair. The hair was difficult to come by. I had to bribe her hair hairdresser to get it. Actually the same day, I saw her outside of my window. I had no choice but to take a picture of her. It was quite admirable of her to be so bold.

I know she has been watching me for months now. I have come to the conclusion that she must be interested in me. While adding another photograph to my collection, I realized that I needed a plan for her to be with me. Sometimes I think back to the first time I saw her. She was in her apartment dancing around in front of her window. There was an innocent, careful glow around. She was unaware of the pair of eyes watching her every movement. From that moment I realized I needed her like I needed water. When I saw her watching me back, I knew she wanted to be with me because we are the same.This was going to be fantastic. We were going to be together for the rest of our lives.

Around midnight, I snuck through her window to bring her back to my apartment. I succeed by knocking her out with a cloth with a solution on it. By leaving her window unlocked, I knew she was signaling for me to come get her. I had to knock her out first so our reunion could be romantic. She looked so beautiful and she was waking up. Once I saw the recognition in her eyes, my face felt like it was going to split because of my smile.

“I see you have been watching me?”

I locked the door and my future began.

Part 1

I’ve been watching him for months now. He is definitely to something. I need to know what is in that safe. The safe is stashed under his bed and whatever it is, he is uptight about it. Every time he opens that safe, he locks his door and never closes his bedroom curtains.

I know it’s weird to be spying only. neighbor but, its quarantine. I’ve been watching so much Netflix it’s boring now. One day, while eating my third lunch for the day, I noticed his sketchy behavior. I knew I shouldn’t have been snooping but, he was pacing around and behaving like a trapped animal. He was pacing in front of a bag. When he glanced in it, he shuddered and  threw it in the safe. Since then, I’ve been watching him. Everyday, like clockwork, in the afternoon he always adds something to it. I desperately want to know what it is time for some detective work.

When he left work, I offered to walk my neighbor’s dog to get close to his window. Lucky for me, his apartment is on the ground floor. His place was tidy. There wasn’t anything suspicious in the living room anyway. I knew that his “top-secret” safe was in his bedroom, so I switched over to that window. While looking through his window, I couldn’t find the safe. There was nothing out of place. The only things I see are a camera and a newspaper. I found that strange considering I thought newspapers didn’t exist anymore.

After returning the dog, I returned home disappointed. I must be going crazy and need to stop watching for him. I see a strange flash of light from my window. I brush it off and try to take a nap when he walks into his apartment. There he was walking quickly to his bedroom. He was pulling out that safe unlocking it to put in a hair tie full of chestnut brown hair. First he caressed it to his face, whispered to tit then put it away. He did the same for a photograph. I slammed my curtains shut breathing hard. It was the creepiest thing I have seen. I tried to brush it off and how about the rest of my day.

Once night fell, I walked past my window and opened it up for some air. I noticed that his apartment was dark and his window was also open. I was starting into the darkness of his place when a shadow moved. I freaked out and turned away. There was another quick flash of light but, when I turned back around. I decided watching him was making me paranoid. I took some melatonin and went to bed. Around midnight, I woke up to a pair of green eyes staring at me, then a white cloth with a funny smell.

Internet Facts: Emotional Anonymity

Facts are important for knowing that information is true. They are pretty concrete unless there is new information refuting it. Yet, it is tricky to accept facts due to our own emotions. In some cases, it can affect our views. It is difficult to understand what people type on the internet without proper facts. The novel “I Hate the Internet” ,by Jarett Kobek, has a part about negative backlash when the main character was recorded stating some unpopular opinions on Youtube. The character was “unknowledgeable” and commenters used her words as proof. In this situation, the internet can be a bit trivial when it comes to fact about people. With our technology, certain people feel protected behind a screen. They feel that with anonymity, they’re actions are not monitored. When these situations happen, there is a lack of fact-checking. Our emotions have a tendency to blind us to certain aspects of people, then we use facts to make a confirmation. Most people want to have solid proof with any claim made. The reason why could be credibility. When you are credible, people prefer to listen and use those facts. Rarely, people want to use facts to challenge their own views. Back to my earlier example, the claims made against the main character are untrue. While explaining themselves, the people felt that their “facts” were challenged. Then, the people proceeded to give new negative comments. When it comes to information on the internet, I think people need not to take opinions as facts.

Gaming Performance?

Performance comes in many different forms, from the stage to your own home. Performing from home is different and may raise the question: how? Video games have become a different way of communicating narrative. Most video games have a form of background narrative, like Tomb Raider or Grand Theft Auto. They use “audience-like” participation to communicate it. For example, the performers at The Globe sometimes include members of their audience. Yet, gaming is different because the audience and performer are the gamers. The difference between how gaming is performed is the amount of people in relation to an audience. The first step is defining the word “audience”. An audience is a group of spectators or listeners at a performance. In video games, their audience is their friends in multiplayer online games. Gamers make a performance of themselves tailored towards their audience. It is different when playing by yourself because it takes away the performance arc of gaming. When you are alone, the atmosphere is more relaxed and there is a release of pressure. While playing with or for other people, the persona created is the main part of the performance. There is a sense of motivation to strive to be at the same level as others or to be entertaining. Video games and the gaming community show a different medium when it comes to performing.

Objective Voyeurism

The idea of voyeurism has a flexible definition depending on the situation. I have been using literary works or mediums to prove the appearance of the theme. The question is: Why use the voyeuristic accept of the audience? There are a few ways to answer this question, but it’s the objectivity of voyeurism. Most people have a tendency to enjoy dramatic events without actually participating. This is the reason for many mediums like “It had to be Murder”. Not only was the narrator the voyeur, but so was the audience when it comes to observing the narrator.

The audience is watching the narrator while staying a separate party. The objectivity of any concept presents an opportunity to make judgments about anything. In comparison with its companion medium, Rear Window. We are observing the dramatic events in the main character’s life. By watching him, we are making our own judgements about his person without all the facts. It is reiterating the objectivity of voyeurism. Yet, the judgments aren’t exactly correct without all the facts. That’s the appeal of the voyeuristic theme, it’s the illusion of objectivity. It keeps the audience’s attention because we are craving more knowledge. Like in “It had to be Murder”, not only do we want to know more about the action outside, but the narrator’s story, too.

Voyeuristic Audience

The audience can be voyeuristic when it comes to the medium of the characters. It is the sense of viewing something that is private form the audience. In that case, we become part of the medium or narrative as well. Two examples that prove a voyeuristic audience is Rear Window(film) and “It had to be Murder” (short story). In Rear Window, the main character is on house rest due to a broken leg. We learn that he has taken to watching his neighbors, the plot is the same for the short story. Each character is watching and taking part in others lives without actually interfering. As an audience, we are the same because we don’t interfere with the narrative, but watch and comment. The audience in both mediums recognizes the voyeuristic nature. It’s translated into the audience and the outside world, and the window acts as a second lens. The window is our lenses to people watching. It creates a barrier between the performer and the audience. The illusion is that you are watching entertainment. The window in both mediums is a video camera, without the recording. When we watch movies or television, it’s encased in a square like frame almost like a window. So it gives the same principles to people watching through windows. The voyeuristic nature of the audience is reflected like everyday life.

To a Skylark

Shelley’s poem describes a bird that becomes transformed through the imagination into a spirit ascending to Heaven. Heaven is the center of many poems about religion because it is the ultimate goal, a divine place full of innocence and purity. The poet describes the spirit “like a star of Heaven” because he imagines the bird as an innocent creature. He asks the bird to “teach” him and the world because he wants to change the world through poetry. Poetry could be the connection to having the world understand the a divine power. The narrator is using the bird as symbol for faith. I believe he compared the bird to a spirit because each one is untouchable. Comparing divine entities to an animal or object that can be seen enables humans to comprehend them. The bird has spiritual qualities because it rarely touches the ground and is free of all sin. The poet identifies himself  with this “scorner of the ground”, but fears that he is impure and does not have “wings” or the right words to change the way society views. He asks the bird-spirit to teach him just as religious people pray to God to strengthen their faith. The poem is like the poet’s prayer.  He wants to have the power to produce a “harmonious madness” from his lips, so that “The world should listen then, as I am listening now” to the bird. The narrator imagines developing a divine poetic power that could compel an audience to listen.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Prufrock is the narrator of the poem, and the title is ironic because of his terror of speaking to a potential lover. I believe he wants love, but doesn’t have any confidence. Prufrock is an older man that is becoming more cynical as he ages ( I grow old …I grow old…). In lines 1-12, he is perhaps addressing himself (‘you and I’) and thinking about spending an evening with the object of his love, constantly digressing from it, and imagining how it will proceed. Towards the middle of the poem, he starts to come back to reality and in the end does not address his important question to the woman. He starts to let his insecurity show: “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-( They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’…They will say: ‘But how how his arms and legs are thin!)”. These are common insecurities among men today because men feel that they have to look a certain way to attract women. Prufrock’s anxieties echo those felt by women which feminism tries to combat. Women and men equally feel insecurities about themselves. Prufrock compares himself to an insect because he feels lonely and detached from his emotions and he goes on to compare himself to the ocean because he feels overwhelmed by his feelings. He imagines mermaids and their singing, but in lines 120-125, Prufrock explains how the mermaids won’t sing to him because of his age. Today, men have started to accept these characteristics about themselves, and a few fall into this depression like Prufrock. Prufrock would have an easier time dating during this time period. Since our society is less formal and everyone is more accepting, he could try technology to find himself a companion. A few timid men may have difficulty with women because women have more power than the last century. Women’s living arrangements were limited, and this made them have to find a husband to care for them. Today, women can live alone and make their own money and a few men may not be able to connect with independent women. I think we should treat men the same as women when it comes to these issues. We are all human and want to have a sense of security in our lives.  

The Wife Of Bath’s Tale

The tale is relevant to contemporary society because of the wisdom of the wife and the queen. Both characters have proto-feminist attributes, and provide the same logic for women in modern society. The knight has to figure out what a woman desires or be put to death by the queen. First, the power of another life is in the hands of a woman. Men traditionally had the power to determine women’s lives. That the knight has to go on this journey to find out women’s desires makes a strong proto-feminist point; what women want is as important as men’s desires. The queen made it a point to tell the knight that his mission was a matter of life or death, so he has to learn to see from a woman’s point of view from his journey. In today’s western societies, many men have some difficulty understanding feminism because they do not take the time to learn what it means. Power had been patriarchal for the last few centuries and there is a slow shift in viewpoints.  Some men, however, have started to see the world through a woman’s eyes, understanding the need for feminism. During the journey, the knight learned that women crave many things and each one is different. Different women want different things from feminism, but most of the time it is treated as one movement instead of being a broad concept.

The wisdom from the wife of the knight is different aspect of Feminism. When she still looks like an ugly old, she asks him why he is unhappy with their marriage, even though she saved his life. He admits that it is about her appearance. In a patriarchal viewpoint, woman’s physical appearance is central to her desirability. The wife’s photo-feminist view point insists on finding beauty in all forms of femininity. The wife told the knight about how their marriage is more than her physical appearance. He learned that she will be a faithful wife and he saw her beauty through loyalty. The wife tells the knight that their marriage should mean more than her physical appearance. He learns that she will be a faithful wife and he begins to see the beauty in her loyalty. Today, women have to show there is more to them than their physical appearance. The Feminist characteristics throughout the tale have the same affect. The wife explains to the knight about her faithfulness and sincerity; she explains how a younger wife might not behave the same way. Chaucer’s depiction of the marriage is relevant to today because narcissism still exists. Some women have chosen to use their appearance to gain wealth or social status. This tale should teach women to respect themselves and men will learn that physical appearance does not show a woman’s personality.