In The Rainbow, by D.H. Lawrence, the lives and thoughts of a farming couple are contrasted, as well as the lives and thoughts of Mr. Brangwen and the vicar, to show Mrs. Brangwen as a far-sighted, perceptive individual, with the ability to see a better life, but not now how to achieve it.
Lawrence compares the laboring, hard working Mr. Brangwen to the pensive Mrs. Brangwen. He writes that Mrs. Brangwen "stood to see the far-off world of cites and governments" (Lawrence, 19-20) while "it was enough for the men, that the earth heaved and opened it's furrow to them" (Lawrence, 1-2) Here Lawrence is comparing what drives the man to the woman, what makes them tic. Mr. Branwen is concerned with the day to day survival of the family, as he plows the far, and tens to his animals. However, his wife looks to distant cities and places where the world is run differently, where "men...set out to discover what was beyond" (Lawrence, 23-26) The irony lies in the fact that Mrs. Brangwen is clearly very perceptive, and can see a place where the word works differently, and yet she cannot see the value in her husbands work, the man who provides for her and keeps their family alive. The opposite is true of Mr. Brangwen, who only focuses on the "pulsing heat of creation" (Lawrence, 24-25) to feed his family, but cannot envision a better life. By contrasting the way of thinking of the wife and husband, Lawrence characterizes Mrs. Branwen.
Lawrence further emphasizes the farsightedness of Mrs. Brangwen by comparing the vicar and the man, and showing the situation through the eyes of Mrs. Branwen. The vicar leads the life that Mrs. Brangwen "could perceive, but could never attain to" (Lawrence, 42-43) The vicar uses his words and his brain to control the "slow, full-built men"(Lawrence, 45) like Mr. Brangwen, though the vicar is smaller and weaker. Mrs. Brangwen is essentially coing to the realization that smart people, regardless of physical size, control basic people, but she cannot find out how, partially because her husband is one of those basic people. She can see the way she wants to live, but cannot get there, since she is a woman, being held back by her not-as-intelligent husband.
D.H. Lawrence compares and contrasts different men and women in this excerpt to show an extreme irony of a farming family wife in rural England in the late 1800's. The wife is smarter than her husband, yet it is he who provides for the family. The wife can see the vicar, who dominates and controls men like her husband, but she cannot obtain that position, partly because she is a woman.
Part II
Nick Carr scored my essay a 6. He scored me this way because I aptly understood parts of the theme of the passage, and communicated them well, with solid textual support. I delved into a small part of the complexity, but not all of it. I discussed the irony of Mrs. Brangwen's being able to see a position of power, but not ever having the ability to reach it, and the irony that Mrs. Brangwen is clearly smarter and more perceptive than her husband, yet it is he that provides for the family and puts food on the table. This is a decently developed analysis, although I would have scored my essay a 5 because I only discussed compare and contrast. I developed that analysis quite well, but still did not mention any other literary device. The rubric for a 5 essay states that these essays have "some analysis" which is what my essay had.
The first change I would need to make would most definitely be to analyze more literary devices. Not a slew of them, but a few more to round out my analysis of the passage. I would discuss the repetition of certain words, phrases, and the parallelism found in several sentences. Lawrence repeats the word "blood" over and over, and references knowledge, or knowing, several times as well. He does this to add significance to those phrases/words, and Lawrence is well-known for his use of the term "blood-knowledge".
I also should have related the theme of the passage, and the contrasting of the vicar, the woman, and the man to the bigger picture, and not just to their situation. This excerpt is really a metaphor for the a way of life, and the contrasts between Mrs. Brangwen and her husband, and what she observes in him and the vicar, are very real, tangible thoughts and observations evident in real life. This would have been a giant step forward for my grade, being able to apply something we learned in comp, the "so what?" principle. I know we aren't usually supposed to use comp methods of analysis, but in this case it applies. This passage is a metaphor with layers of meaning, but it is useless to analyze what the situation is, and to analyze the thoughts of Mrs. Brangwen, without relating them to men and woman in general.
The final change that I would make would be to discuss that Mrs. Brangwen almost seems to desire to be a man. She is significantly smarter than her husband, yet can do nothing above her station because she has a role to fill, and that role is not to lead the family into the future. This is ironic because she has these deep thoughts about the societal ladder, but she cannot help herself or her family because she is a woman, and in that time period woman simply did not advance their families that way. I would have drawn a parallel to Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones. Cersei is one of the smartest people in the realm, always scheming and kniving, but she would be able to do so much more to empower herself and her family if she were a man. Several times throughout the series does she mention this, and it is very real. She cannot fight, and cannot participate in making many decisions because she is a woman, despite the fact that she is far more intelligent than most characters in the series. This is quite like Mrs. Brangwen, and although Mrs. Brangwen is not fighting a war, she is still trying to improve her position on the societal ladder.
Lawrence compares the laboring, hard working Mr. Brangwen to the pensive Mrs. Brangwen. He writes that Mrs. Brangwen "stood to see the far-off world of cites and governments" (Lawrence, 19-20) while "it was enough for the men, that the earth heaved and opened it's furrow to them" (Lawrence, 1-2) Here Lawrence is comparing what drives the man to the woman, what makes them tic. Mr. Branwen is concerned with the day to day survival of the family, as he plows the far, and tens to his animals. However, his wife looks to distant cities and places where the world is run differently, where "men...set out to discover what was beyond" (Lawrence, 23-26) The irony lies in the fact that Mrs. Brangwen is clearly very perceptive, and can see a place where the word works differently, and yet she cannot see the value in her husbands work, the man who provides for her and keeps their family alive. The opposite is true of Mr. Brangwen, who only focuses on the "pulsing heat of creation" (Lawrence, 24-25) to feed his family, but cannot envision a better life. By contrasting the way of thinking of the wife and husband, Lawrence characterizes Mrs. Branwen.
Lawrence further emphasizes the farsightedness of Mrs. Brangwen by comparing the vicar and the man, and showing the situation through the eyes of Mrs. Branwen. The vicar leads the life that Mrs. Brangwen "could perceive, but could never attain to" (Lawrence, 42-43) The vicar uses his words and his brain to control the "slow, full-built men"(Lawrence, 45) like Mr. Brangwen, though the vicar is smaller and weaker. Mrs. Brangwen is essentially coing to the realization that smart people, regardless of physical size, control basic people, but she cannot find out how, partially because her husband is one of those basic people. She can see the way she wants to live, but cannot get there, since she is a woman, being held back by her not-as-intelligent husband.
D.H. Lawrence compares and contrasts different men and women in this excerpt to show an extreme irony of a farming family wife in rural England in the late 1800's. The wife is smarter than her husband, yet it is he who provides for the family. The wife can see the vicar, who dominates and controls men like her husband, but she cannot obtain that position, partly because she is a woman.
Part II
Nick Carr scored my essay a 6. He scored me this way because I aptly understood parts of the theme of the passage, and communicated them well, with solid textual support. I delved into a small part of the complexity, but not all of it. I discussed the irony of Mrs. Brangwen's being able to see a position of power, but not ever having the ability to reach it, and the irony that Mrs. Brangwen is clearly smarter and more perceptive than her husband, yet it is he that provides for the family and puts food on the table. This is a decently developed analysis, although I would have scored my essay a 5 because I only discussed compare and contrast. I developed that analysis quite well, but still did not mention any other literary device. The rubric for a 5 essay states that these essays have "some analysis" which is what my essay had.
The first change I would need to make would most definitely be to analyze more literary devices. Not a slew of them, but a few more to round out my analysis of the passage. I would discuss the repetition of certain words, phrases, and the parallelism found in several sentences. Lawrence repeats the word "blood" over and over, and references knowledge, or knowing, several times as well. He does this to add significance to those phrases/words, and Lawrence is well-known for his use of the term "blood-knowledge".
I also should have related the theme of the passage, and the contrasting of the vicar, the woman, and the man to the bigger picture, and not just to their situation. This excerpt is really a metaphor for the a way of life, and the contrasts between Mrs. Brangwen and her husband, and what she observes in him and the vicar, are very real, tangible thoughts and observations evident in real life. This would have been a giant step forward for my grade, being able to apply something we learned in comp, the "so what?" principle. I know we aren't usually supposed to use comp methods of analysis, but in this case it applies. This passage is a metaphor with layers of meaning, but it is useless to analyze what the situation is, and to analyze the thoughts of Mrs. Brangwen, without relating them to men and woman in general.
The final change that I would make would be to discuss that Mrs. Brangwen almost seems to desire to be a man. She is significantly smarter than her husband, yet can do nothing above her station because she has a role to fill, and that role is not to lead the family into the future. This is ironic because she has these deep thoughts about the societal ladder, but she cannot help herself or her family because she is a woman, and in that time period woman simply did not advance their families that way. I would have drawn a parallel to Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones. Cersei is one of the smartest people in the realm, always scheming and kniving, but she would be able to do so much more to empower herself and her family if she were a man. Several times throughout the series does she mention this, and it is very real. She cannot fight, and cannot participate in making many decisions because she is a woman, despite the fact that she is far more intelligent than most characters in the series. This is quite like Mrs. Brangwen, and although Mrs. Brangwen is not fighting a war, she is still trying to improve her position on the societal ladder.
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