Reflective Piece

At the beginning of the year, when everyone received the schedule of their whole years worth of teachers and the beginning the tedious and sometimes and might be torturous work. On my schedule, only two of the teachers I don’t know about, while the others I known from previous years and through my siblings who were taught by them. One of them was listed Mr. Gallagher and I not sure who he is or if he was one of the teachers who would torture the students with ridiculous amount of work. I am nervous and concerned, since this is the last year of my high school days and it is numbered. I am not sure if I would be able to get into college I want to go to, it is either success or failure. I don’t know if I would survive this class That was my beginning thoughts, but now in Mr. Gallagher’s class, I learned a lot of things that benefit toward my current education and are next step, college.

When I received the book, The Stranger by Camus, I thought that I can get a good grade with my English skills and tried use my little touch into the surface of the topic to books back then, but I was wrong. I realized that as the years as we all start to grow up we have to use a lot of thinking and things based on philosophy to understand the complexity of the English subject as it begins to lead our way to college and adulthood and that it is not a childish thing that should be taken lightly on. I received have really bad grades on the essays I did in the beginning of the year on the Camus paper and also the Red Shift Paper. They were not the greatest work I did during this whole year. It was not only me who were unprepared for this Throughout this year due to the consistent work on the vocabularies and writing sentences on the board with editorial statements commenting on the grammar and the organization of it, it advised me on lots of ways to improve my writing. Mr. Gallagher always mentioned that everyone should go up to the board and write sentence at least two time a month. He commented on a lot of our sentence and helped. For instance, the college essay was a good essay even though I did not know what I am exactly writing about or if the college would accept it. It came out alright and probably the best that I have done at that point. Everyone had been trying by themselves and did everything alone, which was different from the real world where they interact. Mr. Gallagher also tried ways to allow us to interact with each other such as acting out Hamlet and reciting the poems. It allowed us to understand the speech, the tone, and built the foundation on public speaking and portraying of the language art. I had a bad time at speaking, but on the poem recitation, I did my best not to hyperventilate even if half of my body is going through the process. I felt a bit more confident that I tried and received a good grade for trying though not to the extent of perfection.

For our very last assignment, the research paper, I did not know what I was doing, but in an instant the philosophical and analytical outlooks started to burst out. Due to all the work and comments Mr. Gallagher gives to the whole class, thoughts and philosophical ideas begin to connect and allow me to research into the depths of the artist and his style not just glazing over it. I was able to produce a strong thesis backed by good facts that satisfy myself for producing a good and acceptable work.

This year is nearly coming to the end; it might be the last time that we get to see our class mates of English class again. At the very beginning, I always know that I am not really good at writing or analyzing the literature books to the very depth that make the text comprehendible to everyone and I tend to skim the surface of the text instead of going deeper but this year, I have improved, though I might not be the perfect student, but at least I improved thanks to Mr. Gallagher.

A Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man entry 1

Page 21

Pull out his eyes, Apologize, ...

It sounds similar to Prometheus with the fate of Oedipus. Promethius had his organs pulled out and Oedipus take away his own eye. Some way when it say pull out his eyes, it reminds me of Oedipus when he commits a big sin.

A Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man entry 2

Page 37

Was it right to kiss his mother or wrong to kiss his mother?

Oedipus fell in love with his mother same as Stephen, who is not conscious about it.They are living the same fate. In the myth of Oedipus, he killed his father and the fate of the city was about to be doomed. Stephen's fate is parallel to Oedipus.

Memoirs of a Geisha entry

This is an earlier entry from my notebook in the book, Memoirs of a Geisha.

Page 137

She really does think Chiyo will be a more successful geisha than our Pumpkin and would like to make a bit of money off of her.

Women are treated as profit in certain country. This kind of topic is similar to the book, Snowflower and the Secret Fan, It is an interesting topic of women's life in different culture and country. Some live their lives under the male control. Some were not even given right similar to male. Their lives are connected in the way they are treated in their culture and society viewed them.

Fred Tomaselli

Fred Tomaselli is a recent American contemporary artist still living today. From the James Cohan Gallery website, it reveals that Tomaselli was born in 1958 and spent his whole childhood in California. In 1982, He graduated from California State University, under the courses of Painting and Drawing. He achieved a Bachelors of Art degree. Three years after graduating, Tomaselli moved to Brooklyn, New York and now, he still resides there. Tomaselli mostly did installation up until 1989 where he began to change his painting media into layering collages and unorthodox materials. He made his first debut 1984 beginning in a selected group exhibition and then in 1994 he began to have solo exhibitions along with the selected group exhibitions (“Fred Tomaselli”).

Tomaselli’s life experience impacts the way he views and creates his art. In his childhood, he was influenced by his surroundings. Ann Landi from ARTNews states, after interviewing Tomaselli, it that, “growing up in suburban southern California, Fred Tomaselli was exposed to, little in the way, of visual culture” (Landi). From doing an interview with Chris Martin, Tomaselli also stated that he grew up next to Disneyland (Martin 1). From the interview with Landi, He stated how “he happened upon a Bruce Nauman retrospective at the LA Country Museum of Art” (Landi). In comparison between the Bruce Nauman exhibition and Disneyland, Tomaselli refers Disneyland as a “theme park of the repressed” (Landi) and state how it interested him in how far art can go. Tomaselli also stated that it allow him to change into another form of growth. Not only during his moment of childhood influence the style of his artwork, but during the interaction with different people he was acquainted with. In 1989, it was the time where many use and abuse drugs. Tomaselli states that it impacted him when most of his friends were both dying from AIDS and overdosing on drugs (Martin 2). At that moment he figure that he might as well start making drugs to change “from agent of enlightenment and pleasure, to tools of survival”(Martin 2).

Through Fred Tomaselli’s art, Tomaselli blends his ideal of nature and technology taken from his lifestyle into his method of creating art and molding it. Tomaselli views his life in two ways that shows the relationship between nature and technology and also the fault of utopian world. Also Tomaselli’s use of unorthodox materials shows both combination of nature and technology. Incorporating in to his paintings his ideas of how technology and nature are opposite force can still work together. It shows in his painting both his views on the subjects and also the impact it had on his life. In his painting, Big Bird, It shows the picture of nature as the foreground integrating with the background view of modern technology. In another painting, Doppelganger Effect, it uses the concept of nature and technology while most of the painting is created by modern technological materials in the interpretive view. Another painting of Tomaselli, Hangover, uses the concept of both. It integrates both technology and nature. The picture shows nature and something that does not look like nature, but something similar to complex and technological wiring. Tomaselli does not only use only conceptual ideas, plants and animal, but also the human form to show his idea. He show human forms such like the Organism in a way to portray the same idea that can affect the human mind too.

The painting, Big Bird by Fred Tomaselli, shows some of his idea of the balance of nature and technology. In the White Cube’s website, it stated that he created the painting in 2004 using mix media and resin on a wooden panel. It shows a beautiful design of the nature and some surreal details hidden in the background. Both all merged together revealing a beautiful drawing. The Big Bird, itself is a painting where the bird is out of proportions with the other objects and is the subject of the balance between nature and technology.

In the foreground of the painting, it shows a bird on a tree branch. The bird stands out the most in the painting with its mosaic texture except its legs. The tail feathers and the back of the neck and halfway down the back it is painted with the colors of Indian red, English red, light salmon, black, white, orange, orange red and aureoline yellow. On the crown or the top part of the head, it fades from the back of the neck into cadmium lemon, green and the shades of orange from the back. The beak is a mix of cadmium lemon and light orange. The wings are composed of the different shade of slate blue, light violet, white, spots of orange red, spots of crimson red, floral white ivory, and antique white. The belly of the bird has the same colors of white shades in the feather with splotches of blanched almond, light melon and light goldenrod. The crown of the bird and the tail feather gives an effect of tiny rays coming from it. The bird outshines the background and the branch. It is like a “dazzling jewel work, which used rich color to convey on impression of light and space” (Ball 123).

Its legs, which seem to be flat is the transition from the popped out image of the bird’s body into the flat surface of the scenery. The tree branch looks flat comparing to the bird. The leaves upon the tree branch look something similar to illustrated young oak leaves with blunted ends. Some of the leaves on the branch are in olive color darkening into black with a touch of a yellow color that is a split between gold and goldenrod and others have the similar colors but more in the color olive green dark turning into brown. Among the leaves, flowers bloom in the type similar to a Clematis Festoon Bonanza, mauve-blue flowers with yellow stamens, but illustrated in a way like daisies with the color of ultramarine blue and with a yellow center. Both the leaves and the flowers were connected to a branch that looks realistic having the texture revealed by the varies of shading of brown that varies from brown, brown ochre and sienna with a little bit of lighting with the use of light goldenrod, yellow, and melon yellow. The whole branch and its attachments are contradicting each other. The leaves turning brown or black represent autumn, while the bloomed flowers represent the spring. The branch show a hint of light which means it is in a place during the daylight. The background has a base of black decorated with white specks which could be depicted as snow or stars and things similar to snow flakes glowing in the dark. They come in shades orange, white, green, and red which could be stars. There is also a circular object towards the left of the bird’s neck that looks like wire spiral sun in the color of Mars yellow and orange red rays. It also contradicts with the base of the back ground in the same way as the tree branch. It shows that there is some form of light coming out of the darkness. It also shows contradiction because the branch is taken from the day light while the background shows nighttime. It adds to the picture some interstellar effect making the background surreal to the foreground and the leaves to the flower or the other way.

The painting would represent the wildness by only having the bird and the branch filled with autumn leaves and the spring flower with indications of light hitting on parts of the bird and the tree. With the background showing the night sky with dots and firework looking shapes represent the stars and a sun, Tomaselli included a certain sense of technology into the painting. The branch and its attachments indicate nature based on what it is. The bird itself shows nature and in a way shows technology with it. The actual bird itself is born from nature. Despite that fact, the bird existing in the painting not only shows mosaic textures but flexible strands or rays emanating from its body. It makes the bird part of the background as if the bird is part of the stars. The bird is of nature, but given the rays coming out of its body it seems that the bird might be a star. The background indirectly shows technology. The stars and astronomical objects seen in the sky derived from science which advances technology. Also, having the view of seeing the actual existence of the star blown out of proportion in the painting gives the impression of similar to the technology of the telescope. The bird on the foreground is also out of proportion compared to the wiry sun. It is how Gregory Volk stated that “his paintings are artificial devices that don’t pretend to be anything else; yet they are reality-bending objects in their own right” (Volk 80). The way he complied the painting, having the foreground be of daylight and the background of nighttime, it is he was “given full reign to such contradictions (Volk 80)” both by his unorthodox materials and his ideal. Not only has he showed the integration of nature and technology, he also uses his idea upon the things creating. Tomaselli uses resin which is an organic substance that from technological advancement can create plastic or furnishing. It comes from the nature but also the raw material of advancing technology.

His idea of balance between nature and technology was based on his reflection of “his own background in Southern California (Volk).” He believes in two California or Two Americas, the “Edenic territory of wilderness, ocean, fecundity and freedom seeking energies and a built up land of urban sprawl, theme parks and generalize simulation (Volk).” He also announced that his ideas are based on the past. He stated that he “try to redeem some of these castaway ideologies that were tossed away prematurely (Nadel).” It is also noticeable that his paintings used reoccurring themes from the past like the romanticism styled paintings. Tomaselli wants people “to read them as such - to fall through their windows – and to good extent operating in relation to tradition” (Herbert). Tomaselli is similar to Leonardo Da Vinci with his “supreme naturalist ways” (Ball, 108). Tomaselli gives the same impression by how he puts on “the shapes, forms, and pattern of nature” (Ball, 108), but include the use of unorthodox material derived from the advancing technology. He gives the paintings the romanticism period’s emotional and imaginative ideals furnished with his idea of using the modern technological objects to approach romanticism art in a brand new style. He created the old idea of painting in his new style “to find a new way of talking about them (Nadel).” He apply the “dizzying heights of creativity and the dazzling beauties of nature” (Hampson) and “the amorphous world of dreams” (Hampson) and “the dark terrors of the psyche” (Hampson) in the form of the balance of nature and technology in and upon his work.

He portrays it not only in the way that it is a visible concept toward the viewers’ eye, but also in an abstract and interpretive way. The abstract style of Tomaselli can be seen in his artwork, Doppelganger Effect , created in the same year as the first. It shows how the dizzying beauty and the dreams of romanticism have interpretation of the balance between nature and technology. It shows how Tomaselli thinks of doppelganger effect. It is the most interesting piece of art. From the White Cube’s website, Doppelganger Effect is created from photo-collage, pills, leaves, acrylic and resin on panels. Doppelganger Effect is actually related to the strings of bead going in different direction in the wooden panel. It shows multiple strings of bead like objects and it being copied in different location as a way to showing how the nature takes effect in this work.

The background of the painting is black. It might be relative to the idea space. The main object and the foreground of the painting are the lines or the strings that hung from the top of the painting down to the bottom. On each of the strings it is filled with beads or rock shaped objects. Each line of beads had at least one colors in its various shade. In the beads it alternate in different order none the same. There is the color of red, blue or violet, orange, and others more. There are some with the same colors all throughout the string like the beaded maroon color string about the sixth string inward from the left side of the painting or the floral white beads that look a lot like strings of pearls in various location of the artwork. They are very tiny and hard to tell based on how they are spread out.

It shows the doppelganger effect in a perspective view directly looking inwards to the center. Near the edge the strands of beads are spread out the colors in each strand can be seen. As it draws towards the center, strands intertwined with each other creating a cluster effect making the visibility of what is further in hard to see. It is like it is wild vines uncontrollable and unclear. The strings might even be connected based on some repeated color pattern, but that is unclear due to the fact that the ends and beginnings are off of the panel. One might never predict what is in the cluster.

The idea of balance between nature and technology can be interpreted. The title shows the nature within the art work. Doppelganger Effect is defined as a double that haunts its fleshly counterpart. In nature, nothing is definite and there are copies of the same things. Some might look exactly like the same things though they are not. It shows the nature, even though it can duplicate the same thing over and over again, it is located in places different from where one can find the first one. It shows in nature that the clustering strands might represent the attachment between the original and the duplicate. Its patterns show a different “hypnotic pattern (“Fred Tomaselli: Indianapolis Museum of Art) emerging the “Eastern mandalas, which are some of the earliest human maps of inner space” (“Fred Tomaselli: Indianapolis Museum of Art), which can be see in the Gravity’s Rainbow, another one of Tomaselli’s work. It shows the technological looks of it. The idea of having many strands of beads clustered together can be interpreted as wiring, a technological advancement of human creations. Each strand of bead can be like a wire that attach to something and lead to another. Also it can be interpreted as the technology of graphic design and recreation. Modern technology had advanced to the point by using machines like computer to duplicates the image of objects and creates another same in appearance that there is no difference between the original and the copy. Not only is the picture displays technological relations, but also the unorthodox material using pills. Pills, themselves, are created from the science that creates modern technology. Having “layered over the real pills are garlands of painted pills (Emerling)”, it is “deceiving from a distance and rather mesmerizing up close (Emerling)”. It provides “mind-altering experiences and the unreliability of perception” similar to how the dreams romanticism are. They are all focusing around overstepping the boundaries of order and into creativity and imagination. It show “a spiritualized nature, intimations of vastness (Volk)” in type of “psychic or worldly (Volk).”

Another one of Tomaselli’s artwork that shows both nature and technology and also the overstepped boundaries of order in Romanticism is Hang Over created by Tomaselli in 2005. It looks like Tomaselli use some of the same techniques from his previous works in this piece and also links with the human themed creation. From the John Cohan Gallery’s website, Hang Over is created from leaves, pills, acrylic, and resin on wood panel. The title, Hang Over, express the main subject as the tree, showing its balance between nature and technology.

The painting is a close up scenery of a tree with fields of flower surrounding it. The background is black. The trunk has the same colors as the branch in the artwork, Big Bird. The difference between the tree and normal trees is that it is bare of all its leaves. The places where its leaves are located are replaced by strings of beads hanging lazily on the tree with various colored beads on each string. It also dangled stings of hands, butterflies and other unusual objects. It might not have leaves to begin with. The might be a possibility that the leaves had wilted off. The field of flowers has varieties of flowers. Some have the shape of stars, some similar to dandelions and others similar to everyday wildflowers varying in color. All along with the grass, they have wavy stems. It seems like the wavy like stems are similar to the plants in the water such as seaweed. Among the wavy flowers, there are these wild leaf plants. The leaves on the plants were in shades of dark yellow going into mud color with a little bit of green in it. It shows the contradiction of season and also the regions of growth between the leaf plant and the flowers. In the scenery, it looks like the plants on the ground are grown wildly and untamed.

The artwork shows both the balance of nature and technology through the unorthodox materials and the theme of the painting. Different from the other artwork described here, this art work use leaves and pills to creating this work along with collages similar to the others. The leaves are from nature while the pills are from creation. The scenery is of nature. The strings of beads and unusual objects are of technology. They could be interpreted as overhanging wirings. It can also represent the flow of humans linking toward high jumps of modern technology. It is like there path advancing above other creators and their discovery in advancing. The strange objects like the strings of hands and the butterflies among the numerous strings of beads have a connection toward the human mind with the use of drugs.

In its own way, it connects toward the Romantic style and other reoccurring themes of the past painting by the use of the untamed nature. The emphases on nature, due to the untamed wildness of the nature, seem to lean more toward into the Edenic nature. By how the flowers and grass grow, it is not tampered by any human, since Eden was the place only Adam and Eve went to and get kicked out for obtaining knowledge. The string of beads, then, can be interpreted as the snake or the complex knowledge tangled up upon the tree same as the apple of knowledge.

The art shows an “even more artificial world” (Wakefield) than the current world. From observing his artwork, “Tomaselli’s works are deconstructed easily enough and so one invariably gets first the dazzle, then the denouement (Herbert)”. It leaves behind the “residual ideas about the painting” (Herbert) visible to the people. The artworks themselves are amazing and eye-catching that giving it the attention is simply. The concept behind them is fundamental to the point where it is easy understand. His ideology of the relationship between nature and technology is based on the past popularity of drugs. “Tomaselli draws parallels between that alternative reality provided by drugs and the individual views of reality portrayed through art” (Patterson), linking the balance between nature and technology in Hang Over. It tells the difference between the natural realities that a normal human sees compared to the other reality created by the technological effects of drugs. It shows the contest and balance between nature and technology and how they function. He brought out objects from everyone’s everyday lives and show it in a way “without overt comment or condemnation” (Bayles) about it.

Another one of Tomaselli’s artwork, Organism, shows the some of the same concept as Hang Over. In the website titled Brian Wilson: An Art Exhibition, it stated that is the artwork, Organism, created from resin and mixed media. Its foreground looks like a human figure falling down. It is comprise with a number of color that is hard to identify. Its subject is the human falling, but instead of titling it “human”, Tomaselli titled it as Organism because he used tons of different pictures of creatures and things to build it. It is also his idea of expressing that the human linking with nature and that human are no different from nature or its inhabitants.

In the foreground, it looks like all the colors tend to make the human figure show the something similar to anatomy. The colors mostly vary in different shade of blue, orange, and red, which are the normal colors that show the human anatomy. The use of colored pieces of collages and different types of media help it create the veins and organs making the human in the work more human like. As the human figure falls down, there is no head to the figure. It is as if the head vanished into the scenery as if it is part of the scenery itself. By whole the body is being positioned, it also seems like the body can’t control its fall. It shows the person in despair trying to maintain its balance while falling down.

A little bit below the figure, it shows the scenery. There are different shaped polygons with centers similar to kaleidoscope images and some have hands in them. In the background, there are strands of different things and animals lined up in their type categories and diagonally going behind the human figure. If it is said to be the effects that show a perspective view, it looks like a human is falling down an abyss and the polygon shape could be the top view of columns sticking out of the abyss and the strands might be the side view of the columns.

The artwork portrays the nature and technology in it and on it. It revolves around the ideas of drugs. Having a human in the work shows that Tomaselli include that human beings are part of nature. It also makes human infinite same as nature by the continuous layering pictures on top of each other. The human also represents technology. The existence of the human created the drugs, which made them fall in to a dimension of artificial reality. The way human advances in technology and how they use it links nature to technology. Nature created human beings and Human beings created technology that links to drugs. In the artwork, it shows that the human figure without the head. It is, in some technical way, it is linked with technology, human, and drugs. The human figure is like a drug induced person that took drugs created by the world, where the people have advancing technology without realizing the dangers of some of the things they created. The drug induced people tend to think of alternate realities which do not physically exist, but in their mentality it does and is as real as the reality the whole world is living, suffering, or surviving in. They believe it to be their utopia and Eden and addicted to keep the haven that the found through the intake of drug alive. It causes a nonstop addiction to want it. In some way, it explains why the picture does not have a head. As this artwork portrays the human figure without the head means that, the persons mentality is split and confounded in a form where the person can not separate between things and in this case, it would be probably be reality and the hallucinating scene in its mind. He stated that his “work aims to be escapist while simultaneously exploring the perceptual and cultural dynamics of escapism (Tilton).” He used the purpose of pills to show the unorthodox methods in getting out his idea of drug addiction and balance between nature and technology. The nature in where the human kind is normal unaffected by drugs and the technology that brought upon more severe and dangerous drugs that cause more harm. It relates back to what Tomaselli thought about the views of two California the wilderness like paradise and the urban chaos.

The topic of Tomaselli’s work is sometimes controversial. It “raises the question of whether the act of ingesting chemicals and the visual pleasure of looking at are parallel experience transporting one into another reality” (Tilton). It is not showing that he is approved of abusing and overdosing drugs to a person with the intent of it being a utopia. He stated that he has “given people a way to use drugs that’s not to kill them (Sheet 182).” Tomaselli used them for his purpose of portraying his idea while having the pills “encapsulated in tamper proof resin containers (Sheet 182).” He wants people to comprehend the point behind his artwork. He “speaks very intently of cultural and artistic ideas and tosses out wry observation trying to describe what he thinks about (Sheet 180).” Though people only look at the front and only view the beautifully composed art work, it is “fine with him (Sheet 180)” that they had an alternative meaning in the depth of the painting itself.

Tomaselli’s work is “a massive and sublime collage”(“Fred Tomaselli: Indianapolis Museum of Art) where “the drugs he employs in his art no longer reach the brain through the mouth and the blood stream, but through the eyes” (Volk). He shows that the creation of dugs linking to art because “both are seen as transportation mediums and window into another conscious” (Mossy). Both are similar as a window to something. Art is the window into the eye sight, while drugs are the window into the mind. In Volk’s article, he stated in agreement that people “could look at drugs as possible delivering transcendence or relief from pain or pleasure (Sheet 180).”

Tomaselli’s paintings follow some order in the pictures viewed in the paper. Between of his painting, Big Bird, Doppelganger Effect, Hangover, and Organism, it show the growth of his idea of drugs coming forward through the balance of nature and technology that he integrated in and use to create it . It looks that like between Big Bird and Doppelganger Effect, they only show one of the balances of nature and technology forwardly while the other is in the background or hiding. It show the bird being from nature while the astrological sky in the back and the multiple strands of beads show the technological pills and advancing technological equipments while the meaning is in the background or depths of it. Hangover and Organism on the other hand show both at the same time. Hangover had the tree belonging to nature while the loops of beads on its branches from technology itself. Organism had the human being the nature and technology with the background explaining the technological effect and is also created by collages made out of picture relating to the nature.

Tomaselli provide in his painting “the toxicity of beauty” (Emerling) with the use of technology and nature related materials. With it, he shows the “contest of nature and technology”. The use of unorthodox materials allows him to cover both the main themes of the balance of nature and technology and utopianism. He brought back old ideas of Romanticism with the modern touch. He is acting upon something similar to how “an anonymous writer on artist technique in 1810 said cautiously: ‘Chemistry is to painting what anatomy is to drawing’ (Ball 11).” Similar he mixed his painting with additional chemistry of pills and drugs and creating collages and work of art that intoxicate them through the mind with nature and technology being the theme of it. It is an integration the past and the coming future, creating modern art out of the reoccurring themes that once created the artistic culture to portray the modern teachings of the relations between human life and drug addiction, that allowed the recent contemporary artist to be famous and coming up with new ways to portray the old with a touch of modern human enlightenment.

Work Cited

Ball, Philip. Bright Earth: Art and the Intervention of Color. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Philip Ball shows the interaction between art, chemistry, and technology and how throughout the ages it took part in the cultural painting that many adore. In time, Chemistry use to create colors for paint to differentiate the actual science that people want to create. It does not have any relation with Tomaselli, but it introduced the use of colors and testing similar to Tomaselli’s unorthodox methods and tools.

Bayles, Jennifer. “Acquisitions: Fred Tomaselli “. Albright-Knox Art Gallery (2001). < http://www.albrightknox.org/acquisitions/acq_2001/Tomaselli.html >

It is a review on one of Tomaselli’s work, Echo, Wow and Flutter, 2000. It briefly describes the how it looks. It gives a little background information on the style.

Brian Wilson: An Art Exhibition. guardian.co.uk. (no date) <http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/gallery/2007/may/25/1?picture=329929150>

It is an exhibition that occurred on May 26 to September 23 of 2007. It gives a little detail about the painting, Organism. (picture)

Emerling, Susan. “Artist’s little helper”. Salon.com/People. (Oct. 29, 1999). < http://www.salon.com/people/feature/1999/10/29/pills/index.html >

It is a review on one of Tomaselli’s show on October 29, 1999. It presented Tomaselli’s latest work, Gravity's Rainbow. It describe the painting and the usage of pills and drugs including a little biography of his past

“Fred Tomaselli.” James Cohan Gallery. No date < http://www.jamescohan.com/artists/fred-tomaselli/bio/ >

It is a biography or a time line of Tomaselli and his work. It tells of his birth and his education .

“Fred Tomaselli”. White Cube. (2005) accessed on 24 April 2008 < http://www.whitecube.com/artists/tomaselli/>

It also shows the timeline of Tomaselli’s works. It gives a background history and listed the materials that he tends to use. It also provides some proofs of his ideas being the balance between technology, nature, and utopia. (picture information only and is defined as “White Cube”)

“Fred Tomaselli: Indianapolis Museum of Art” New Art Examiner 29.2 (2001): 94

It is a review of one of Tomaselli’s work that portrays the terror of drugs. Though people might mistaken it as a normal art piece he created, he also integrate his feeling into it.

Hampson, Thomas. “Romanticism.” I Hear America Singing. (enter on 9 May 2008) < http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/romanticism.html >

It is some background history of romanticism. It also defines the meaning of it. Romanticism is the adoration of nature and the heightening creative thoughts of crossing the boundaries of normal existence.

Herbert, Martin. “How Much Paint Does It Takes To Make A Painting?” Modern Painter. 17. 3 (Autumn 2004)

It shows different peoples’ way of art. It describe in details of how it looks. It includes Tomaselli way of art and what he model after.

Landi, Ann. “Painter and their Role Models”. ARTNews. 104. 11 (Summer 2005): 132-135

It tells of how artist and their inspiration toward the arts. It shows how it change the artists view art. It inspires them to look and create art in their view.

Martin, Chris. “Fred Tomaselli: in conversation with Chris Martin”. Brooklyn Rail. (December 2005). < http://i1.exhibit-e.com/jamescohan/f63cd88a.pdf >

It is an interview between Chris Martin also known as “Rail” and Tomaselli. It gives a biography of Tomaselli’s life. It also reveals the reason why he uses drugs in his art.

Mossy, Joan. “The Beautiful Beguiling Art if Fred Tomaselli”. (2001) < http://pdr.autono.net/joanie/Tomaselli.html >

It is not an interview, but a talk show about Tomaselli. It views his art in Mossy’s point of view. She connects his unorthodox materials with the affects of the body.

Nadel, Dan. “Trenton Doyle Hancock & Fred Tomaselli with Dan Nadel” Brooklyn Rail. (May 2006). < http://www.brooklynrail.org/2006/05/art/in-conversation-trenton-doyle-hancock-fred-tomaselli-with-dan-nadel >

It is an interview or a conversation between Tomaselli, Nadel, and Hancock They are chatting about each artist’s life in the present in the interview. It is more like a social chat than actually answering questions of the interview.

Tilton Jack. “Fred Tomaselli”. Jack Tilton. No date. < http://www.artseensoho.com/Art/TILTON/tomaselli97/tomaselliinfo.html>

It shows some idea Tomaselli incorporates into his work. It show some possibility of the purpose behind use of drugs in the art work and it’s significance between nature and technology.

Sheet, Hilarie M. “Prescription for Beauty” ARTNews. 98. 10 (November 1999) 180-182

It is an interview in an article form describing Tomaselli’s life and way of art. He describe his art and the material he uses and why. It reveals his thoughts of how his art is to be viewed.

Volk, Gregory. “Transportive Visions.” Art in America. 87. 7 (July 1999): 78-80

It’s a review that describes his painting and also involves some part of his debut into the art world.

Wakefield, Neville. “Fred Tomaselli-Brief Article” Buisness Network. (Jan-April 2001) < http://findarticles.com/p/search?qt=fred+tomaselli&qf=all&qta=1&tb=art&x=0&y=0&sn=10 >

It is an interview about Tomaselli’s art style. It also talks about the James Cohan Gallery exhibition.

Work Consulted

Ayers, Robert. “The AI Interview: Fred Tomaselli”. Artinfo. October 25, 2008. < http://i1.exhibit-e.com/jamescohan/e7626182.pdf >

It is interview between AI and Fred Tomaselli regarding his art style. Tomaselli answers the questions given by the AI. It is relevant to Martain’s questions, but it is more about his paintings than his life.

“Fred Tomaselli: Monsters of Paradise” Art New England 27.2 (March 2006) 29

It is a review on one of Tomaselli’s work. It show how it was put together, which relate to the artwork, Big Bird.

Kino, Carol. “Fred Tomaselli at James Cohan”. Art in America. 91. 2 (December 2003) 104

It is another review that tells the use of Tomaselli’s unorthodox materials and the creation of his collages. He shows the version of the human body being created. He uses the same materials for nature with this composition and the concept of eternity.

Patterson, Kerry. “Fred Tomaselli: Monsters of Paradise at the Fruit Market Gallery”. 24 Hour Museum. June 8, 2004 < http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART23397.html >

It is a review on another exhibition of Tomaselli’s work in that is up until October 3, 2004. It shows how he paints it and expresses it to the audience. It shows the similar effects of Organism.

Spears, Dorothy. “Where Art Imitates Gardening (and Vice Versa)”. The New York Times. October 8, 2008 < http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/arts/design/08spea.html>

He tells of how a person’s personal reference can assist the profession that the person does. He express that his is gardening.

"Red Shift" Poem Explication

In the poem “Red Shift”, Ted Berrigan suggests that the views and memories of a person is a very complex and interesting thought process because it changes the person’s personality through events. Berrigan uses other poets’ style of writing to create the complex mind of the speaker. He integrates some aspects of himself through the poem to show an individual taking shape in his poem. The poem, “Red Shift” shows subjects of private matters and events that Berrigan mostly write about and gives off intense emotions. He shows complex emotion and thoughts through fragments, short phrases, contents, and run-on sentence.

At the beginning, Berrigan used Frank O’Hara’s style on the first three lines to show the setting. The setting takes place near the end of winter, so it gives of a sad impression. It is because winter gives a sense of coldness and the feeling of death and from line 6, the speaker started to reminisce the past. In line 7, Berrigan used words that represent sorrow and death. In that line, it says that “…Frank disappearing in the air,” which shows sorrow and death because for someone to actually disappear means that they are dead or their physical being is no long there. It can also mean that the memory of the person begins to disappear from the world. Line 7 also shows a part of Berrigan because Berrigan know a person named Frank. The Frank that Berrigan refers to in the poem is the deceased Frank O’Hara. It gives an intense sorrow feeling in that part of the poem.

Berrigan states the memory 20 years back. From lines 11 to 16, it shows the emotions of graceful affection. In the lines 11 and 12, it shows the relationship of a man and a “smiling attentive woman” and the thoughts from the man. To show the affectionate feeling in this memory, Berrigan used small phrases and fragments. From lines 14 to 16, they are filled with phrases of “love, children, hundred of them, money, marriage-ethics, a politics of grace” and other. From those two lines, the speaker speak as if nothing is concealed or hidden and tells of passion of love, children, and money and grace. In line 15, the phrase of “hundreds of them” seems to refer to the children. All the words show a deep passion. Lines 17 and 18 changed the emotion to a bit of despair by the words of “burning even or still, now more than ever…” It shows that something is burning away. It is similar to line 23. From line 19 to22 and 24 to 28, the speaker speaks of duty. Berrigan use the phrase of “both vanish into the thin air we signed up for” in lines 25 and 26 as a sign of obligation and as ones will and choice. Berrigan also used the phrase, “will never leave” in line 27 as if the speaker and the connection cannot end. From line 29, the speaker became contradictive and indecisive. Berrigan used this move to make the character’s thought indistinguishable if the speaker is think in certain way or another. In line 29 and 30, the speaker said when he would die and he said he “will never die” make it hard to figure out if he is thinking of his last days or if he is trying to live past death by will. It shows a bit of anger and superiority. From line 31 to line 37, the speaker talks with superiority. In the last two lines, it becomes indecisive again. It is contradictive to line 32 to33. It makes the speaker again indistinguishable.

From this poem, it shows how the mind is very vast and complex. One thought can change another thought of the person. Events affect how the person thinks next. Each thought lead to another chain of thoughts .As the thoughts change, so is the emotion of the person. People’s thought cannot understand easily.

Humument page 100

On page 100 of A Humument, the restructured version of A Human Document created by Tom Phillips, Phillips suggests the thoughts in the mind though it might be scattered are connected in a way similar to a puzzle. Each piece is needed to build the significance of the poem and create the idea. Thoughts that could be totally different can all relate giving the reason of how his art and his choice of words integrate into each other. The subject of the poem seems to relate to the idea of thought and words. Also, the interpretation of the poem depends on the people and how they view it.

The poem was created by pieces of words from the original text. Phillips added his artistic talents to portray his poem in his art that accompany it. In the poem, it has only black and its original paper color of cream or the lightest yellow. He uses the style of pen and ink to create his art. Phillips made the background for his poem as jigsaw puzzle pieces which all fit perfectly together though it did not produce an image all together. In each of the puzzle pieces, each of the design varies and not one is next to the same design. The background of the jigsaw puzzle appears more visible because of the alternating design without the need of any colors different than the paper and ink. The alternating use of crosshatching, hatching, stippling, scumbling, scribbling and other random design were used to eliminate the words from the original text that are not needed in his words and in a way give some meaning to the poem.

The words that remain from the actual text were one or two word phrases integrated into the art only differentiated from the cross-out words by a white border around the words and having the design bend around the border. The words “Vienna” and “Hampstead” are the names of a city in Austria and a suburb in London, England. The other words were mostly composed of nouns and adjective. Few of the words were verb that could be interpreted as an adjective. It is more like a thought process with no concentration in a single subject or is not definite enough to interpret.

Art and poem are normally separate entities, but Phillips integrates both works to show the true meaning behind his work and support his idea. The first few words “Vienna, pause, a person, Hampstead, anybody” implies of it as thoughts. The use of the word “pause” in this context is not similar to a normal action but more of action of hesitating in thought. Also the words, “a person” and “anybody” sound more like confused thought because Vienna and Hampstead are not human. After that Phillips start showing random words. “Courage” meaning bravery, but also the every brave action also comes along with thought as either the view of other people or the resolution of planned action of becoming courageous. “Words” and “intonation” connect even though it is randomly said like a chain of thought. It connects to the Phillips’ writing style the design of the background and to each other. Phillips writing style uses the “words” of the author of A Human Document in a certain pattern, similar to “intonation” which is a pattern changes in a sentence. It is similar to the jigsaw design pattern that changes as in the view of those reading the words to the poem. “Intonation” is a change in pattern and can use in human speech and human speech is based off of “words”. As the poem go along, it states “struck plaintive dignity, criticisms, judgment.” It describes “words” in the poem and also idea of thought. “Dignity, criticism, judgment, sorrow they are all created from random thought. The thought of what is pride, morale values, sadness, and superiority. It all based out of thought from peoples point of view. “Luncheon” is a meeting of people and in meetings thoughts and words are passed along each other. Each person gathered brings pieces to a solution of a thing in mind. Similar to the puzzles as like pieces brought together to reveal something. The words of “abruptness” and “reoccurred” contradict each other like an internal conflict if it is based on thoughts. “Sigh” represents the “reoccurred” as tedious while “inexperience” represents the “abruptness” as unknown. “Reasons shared” goes back to the “luncheon” bringing together the pieces of thought. “Knife”, in some way, represents sharpness. “Surprise, sincerity, and doubt” are all emotions attached to thoughts.

Thoughts are pieces of puzzle created by words. They are pieces that are defined by each person in their own way. With the use of the artwork and poem, Phillips gives the idea that thoughts are like puzzles. The puzzle pieces that vary in patterns represent how different things can connect and also show as thoughts of human minds. The poem might be untitled because it is a puzzle in which each person interprets it in their own way and giving no definite answer of what it is exactly about.

Owen Meany

What is the significance of the title of the chapter "The Dream"? How does Irving build up to the significance of this title with details from the chapter?

In the book, Prayers for Owen Meany, the significance of the title “The Dream” is that to show the event of Owen going to University of New Hampshire with a scholarship ending up being kicked out of the academy. The title of the chapter is “The Dream” because it is like at the very beginning of a dream where good things happen mostly beneficial to the person, but at the very end, it just went away and the person have to face the somewhat harsh reality. From the beginning of the book, Owen was having a good time with John and everyone he knows. Even Owen killed John’s mother, Tabitha, no one blamed him. Everyone still think highly of him as a Instrument of God, good actor of both Little Jesus and The Spirit of Christmas Yet To Come, and a student with intellect. He was the top of Gravesend Academy and accepted the University of New Hampshire's scholarship."University of New Hampshire never imagine that..."(338) would happen, since Owen could have chosen a more higher ranked school. It was because Owen want to be with Hester. It all ends when Larry Lish accused him of reproducing "fake identification cards"(398), so that Owen can profit off of them. He got expelled from school./ It ended his term of being the top of the "Gravesend Academy graduating class " (338). He would not be able to go to the college he wants. It is like a dream for Owen Irving use this way to show it. Irving created a situation for Owen where everything goes well and then end in a catastrophe. It is like a rising action and the climax of the story. It is like the turning point of Owen's life. It is also the end of his happy dream. Owen also envision his downfall, his death at the end.

What is the significance of the title of the chapter "The Shot"? How does Irving build up to the significance of this title with details from the chapter?

The significance of "The Shot" is that death that Owen was talking about . Two chapters before the current chapter, Owen foresee his death as a hero. Irving build it by having him be in a war and its end that "would not come soon enough to save Owen." It shows the sad memorys of Owen and his terrible downfall of his successful dream.

Hamlet portrayed by Kenneth Branagh

In the whole blog, Kenneth Branagh’s version of Hamlet’s soliloquy captures Hamlet’s feelings and mentality toward his uncle in the current situation the best. Compared to the other two videos, this version gives off a better understanding toward Hamlet. In the Branagh’s video, it set the stage in a room similar to a palace room, which is more relative to the setting of the actual play and the royalties of Denmark. The use of the mirror on the wall and the knife give a better view of Hamlet’s current state. The mirror reveals his inner soul and consciousness and the knife shows the state of mind.

As he stands several feet parallel to the mirror with his reflection in it and asks “To be or not to be, that is the question:” (81, line 55), it produces the image of Hamlet taking a deeper look at his own thoughts. As he continue with the words “Whether ‘tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them.” (81, lines 56-59), it reveals what is going on in his mind. It also gives a sense of his subconscious mind speaking directly to him. All of those words were spoken in a soft voice similar to a voice in a dream. The lines of “To die, to sleep” (81, line 59) are repeated more than once in the soliloquy giving the continuous feelings of a dream. It is as if he views of another world reflected through the mirror. Also as he pulled out his sword and point to the mirror, it reveals an image of another person that could be Claudius in a flash. It gives of him looking at an unreal world because of how he speaks and that flash of an image. It shows also he is thinking of revenge by that single image. His sword was pointing the knife at that image showing his consistent mindset of revenge.

Hamlet voices his words softly and draws toward louder tone as if he is going from sanity to insanity and also furious of the occurred events. Hamlet says the lines of “the law’s delay, the insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of th’ unworthy takes” (82, lines 71-74) shows the premonition of Claudius’s demise by his hand in his way. It shows his disturbed side to his hidden audience. Also as he speaks on the lines “no travelers returns, puzzles the will” (82, lines 79), he hold the knife to his head. It gives the evidence of his insanity or disturbed mind. It seems the anger, disturb, and insane mindset occur when his thoughts come upon Claudius because the flashing image appears just right after he predict Claudius’s demise and as he explain that about the mere knife which represent Claudius’s killing and the “fardels bear”(line 75) as in the guilt of killing king Hamlet.

In Branagh’s video, it shows Hamlet’s feelings and mentality toward his uncle directly. His disturbed mind and feelings are shown in a comprehensive manner. The other two is a bit confusing. The first video by Laurence Olivier portrays Hamlet’s soliloquy in a good way, yet the subject of who Hamlet is talking about is not clear. It is where Hamlet is all alone on a tower which give no indication of who he is talking about and a setting not relevant to the text. It shows that Hamlet is truly insane and that is all. The second video by Alexander Fodor portrays his version in a modern version, yet in a confusing manner. It is hard to connect what is going on in the background to the words. It seems that the lines and the actions do not match. The action of young people kissing a person who is either dead or sleeping does not connect to the idea that Hamlet is speaking the lines other than insanity.

Myth of Oedipus in “The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”

In The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce portrays that the main character Stephen similar tragic hero while maturing through the state of adolescent. Mostly it is compare d more to the character Oedipus. The Myth Oedipus is a Greek legend of a prince who suffers the fate of killing his own father and marrying his own mother. Stephen, however, is not fated to similar be to Oedipus, but emotionally feel the same as Oedipus. Joyce displays the emotion that appears in Stephen’s life through the setting of the situation and the developing maturity with internal conflicts. The emotions that Stephen encounters flow parallel to the tragic feelings of Oedipus takes on as part of his fate.

In the passage when the students of the boarding school question him about kissing his mother, Joyce displays a common trait that both Oedipus and Stephen has. Stephen says that “he kisses his mother every night.”(26) The result of that the students made fun of him. After rejecting the fact that he kisses his mother, the other kids still make fun of him. Stephen shows that he has a feeling for his mother. Joyce created this situation to portray the trait by creating the internal conflict of which answer was right. His kiss represents the love for his mother. Questioning himself gives some significance relating to the love he has for his mother. He even thought of the very deep detail of how his mother kisses him. He describes that “her lips were soft” (27) and that it “wetted his cheek” (27) making the kissing. In the previous passages, Stephen shows great bond with his mother. He always wants his mother to help and protect him. When he was beginning his schooling, he thought of how nice his mother is. When he felt homesick, he called out for his mother. The love and dependence toward his mother gives the idea of Stephen having a mother complex to the readers.

Compared to Oedipus, Stephen is the same. Oedipus was fated to kill his father and married his mother which Oedipus shows love toward his mother. Oedipus does not know that he married his mother. He was taken in by the king and queen of another city when he was abandoned as a baby. He tries to avoid his fate, but his fate was sealed from the beginning. He never actually knows about the identities of his true parent. As he had already married to his mother, Oedipus can kiss his mother. They became intimate with each other. They bear two sons and two daughters from the relationship. To love his mother so much, Oedipus made incest to the one who gave birth to him. Oedipus has the same complex that Stephen has. Both of them have feeling toward their mother, but did not know it. All of their feelings come from their sub-conscience. Both of did not acknowledge that they have feelings for their mother. They have the Oedipus complex, where the child shows affection toward the parent of the opposite sex. James Joyce uses the concept of Oedipus Complex to describes how Stephen as a growing young adolescent have some feeling innocence and maturing to understand women sub-consciously.

As the book went along, Stephen does not only the similar mother complex. He felt the hatred toward himself as Oedipus did. In the chapter where Stephen’s dad gives off the feeling of being dead when he reminisces into his past, Stephen begin to feel humiliation because of his father and other factors. After the play, Stephen felt anger and humiliation for playing a certain part. His “pride and hope and desire” (87) were crushed and burning the “eyes of his mind” (87). His pride is wounded, hopes fallen and “baffled desires” (87). In the end, it clears away. His resentment toward himself cleared. Joyce created this effect showing the agony of Stephen by putting him in the situation where he has to play his part to the end. Joyce uses descriptions and setting to create the emotion. Joyce created this scene for the purpose of showing Stephen growing from his youthful childhood.

In a similar situation, Oedipus resented himself because he played the exact part in the prophecy. He played his role as the murderer of his father and his mother’s lover with out knowing. It pains him for following fate. His mother also known as his wife committed suicide. Out of humiliation and agony of horror, he blinded himself. He resented himself for following his tragic destiny, so he spends the rest of his life being a blind man and assisted by Antigone. Joyce use deep emotional words and show some of the myth into Stephen’s situation to show the similarity between the two. Stephen, at the end, has “a film still veiled his eye.” (87) It is similar to how Oedipus ends up blind though it is temporary. Blinding himself settled his resentment. Stephen and Oedipus were blinded by the “wounded pride.” (87) Stephen was wounded by the part in the play and Oedipus was wounded by the role he takes on in fate. After being blinded, Oedipus leaves his agony of horror and humiliation and continues living as a blind man. Stephen was the same. He leaves his emotion of humiliation after he was blinded by his wounded pride.

However, Joyce created Stephen to be similar to Oedipus in a way but not fated walk the same path that Oedipus was destined to. They are both linked by the emotions and feeling that they both feel due to the events that occur. It gives a sense of things that Stephen’s upbringing is similar to Oedipus. They are mostly linked through emotion. Oedipus shows his love toward his own mother similar to Stephen who also loves his mother. Both living with the Oedipus Complex. They both felt shame and humiliation toward their part. They hated themselves for the roles that they are pitched up against. Hurting in pride, desire, and hope, they suffer the pain. They resolve it with their own power. Stephen is like the modern version of Oedipus by feeling. The emotion of Oedipus was linked to Stephen to show the difficulties in life that Oedipus is going through and how he feels as he grow in to adolescence. Joyce uses Stephen to portray the modern version of Oedipus through emotions to show a path from child to adolescent years of a human being.

Plum Plum Picker

In the short story, The Plum Plum Picker, Raymond Barrio suggests that human beings have dignity and will power that make them different from the nonliving machines. Barrio shows it through the portrayals of the characters and the conflict between them. He uses the third person view through the eyes of the protagonist as the main point of view to reveal his idea. Barrio sets up a situation where the protagonist and his fellow workers are like machines that work so hard to earn money and have it taken away from them.


Barrio set this story based on a working day of the protagonist, Manuel, who is a prune and apricot picker. In the first paragraph, it shows the beginning of the day where Manuel is working in “an endless maze of apricot trees”. (40) Manuel is describing his day and thoughts Barrio added in between the descriptive sentences one word phrases, which show the hectic action in the beginning of the day and the fast speed that the workers are working at in their mechanical state automatically doing things without unnecessary commands. Barrio used the word, “locked” (40), to show how Manuel and the workers are unable to leave the place. As Manuel continue his train of thoughts, “animal”, “brute”, “beast”, and “savage” (40) phrases appeared. Manuel describes his very own “exhausted body” (40) as an animal with “brute cells” (40) and “animal pores” (40). Barrio use that to portray both the protagonist and the worker appear as animals than humans. It shows how they have no honor working as pickers and treated as harshly as animals. Barrio used single word to divide two paragraphs along the beginning of the story. It sets the time in which the event occurs. The second paragraph sets during the lunch time where things are calmer than the beginning for a short period. The paragraph begins with longer sentence than the one word phrase to show that the speed of work has slow down. Manuel’s “short rest” (40) shows how short the time is for lunch. Afterwards, it became hectic again. “The trees” (40) and “the branches” (40) were used to show that there is no movement forward in the work because no action occurred.


In Manuel’s picking of apricots, he was like an n machine. Manuel picked the “mountain of cots automatically” (40). He act similar to an “automator” (40) that continuously doing the same thing over ad over without thoughts about it. It shows how the workers are so uniform and lifeless. Barrio introduces another character by the name of Robert Morales. The name, Morales, represent the person as a person without morals. It is similar to Manuel’s name, which represent a simple man or manual. It tells the characteristic of the people just by their names. Morales is truly a person with out morals and is the “worst kind” (40). He is described as “a gentlemanly, friendly, polite, grinning, vicious, thieving brute” (40). Barrio shows the layers toward Morales’s true personality by using contradictions to describe Morales. Mid afternoon shows the near end of work for the people. In the end, it shows Morales trying to steal money off of the pickers to satisfy himself. Unlike a machine at this point, Manuel spoke up and spurred the others to rebel. Instead of being an obedient machinery or beast that does what the master want, Manuel and the others did not forfeit their money over. He and the others “moved toward their buckets” (41) and kick it in attempt to stop Morales’s rule over them. Barrio made Manuel show “his defiance” (41) to create Manuel’s dignity, will power and realization of the purpose of men. It shows that the workers who are constantly working like machines “are dead before they die” (41). Barrio uses the two characters to create a situation where the people have to strike back and show the actual life that they hidden while automatically doing their work.


Barrio show his idea that human beings have dignity and will power that makes them truly alive. Humans are not machines that would follow every order given without questions. It show that they have a will and they will not stand to be treated like machine just because of superiority ranking. They have their dignity to protect the things they rightfully earn.